The Other Type of Magic
by Kellsabelle
Summary: When Mildred Hubble is asked to leave Cackles Academy she fears that she has lost her only chance to become a witch. But when a letter arrives from a school she's never heard of she's thrown into a whole new world, and a whole new type of magic.
1. Second Chances

**AUTHORS NOTE: **This is my first fanfiction story so therefore feedback is really, really appreciated. Even if you hated it please review and tell me why so that i can make changes.

**The Other Type of Magic**

**A Harry Potter / The Worst Witch Crossover**

**Chapter One: Second Chances**

Silently I watched the flaming torches disappear over the edge of the hill. Maud and Enid were in that crowd. So were Ethel, Sandra, Emily and Carol. All of my friends and class mates were flying down to the grand hall for the graduation ceremony and I wasn't with them. Closing the blinds with a shudder I turned away from the window. It was too painful to watch. I should be down there too! I should be graduating as well, but, something had gone wrong. Even that wasn't true, everything had gone wrong! With a slow sigh I closed my eyes and leaned against the wall. It was my last night here at Cackles Academy, it was my friends as well but they would be going to the senior campus next September. I on the other hand had been asked to leave, told that I did not reach the required level to continue on with a senior education. In other words, I was being kicked out. I had failed as a witch.

"Miss Hubble, it's time to leave now, your sister is here."

Silently I picked up my things and followed Miss Cackle down the corridors and stair cases that had been my home for so long. I didn't notice when the front doors creaked open and we began to walk across the cobbled courtyard. At the front gate Miss Cackle stopped. I could see my oldest sister Bryony waiting outside on the road.

"Thanks for trying Miss Cackle, I'm sorry I let you down."

"So am I Mildred, but don't give up hope, keep believing and maybe we'll see you back here soon."

The old lady tried to smile at me, her glasses rising at the sides. "I hope so Miss Cackle, I'm not ready to go yet."

With a final, hopeful smile Miss Cackle opened the front gate. She didn't wait but silently started to walk back up to the school. As soon as I walked out I was consumed in a massive hug from Bryony. She picked up my bags, charming them to hover alongside her broom. From inside his carrier I heard Tabby squeak. He never did like flying. I followed Bryony onto the back of her broom, wrapping my arms around her waist and burying my head in her hair. It was only when we were above the clouds, with the wind drowning out my voice that I allowed myself to cry.

I'd been at home for a while now, a couple of week's maybe, I wasn't really keeping track. My parents weren't really talking to me much. My mum was writing another book and my dad was planning classes for his school. Whenever they looked at me I could see the pain I was causing them. They were two of the most respected magical practitioners in the UK. How embarrassing for them to have a daughter who was kicked out of Cackles Academy, they couldn't stand to look at me.

My siblings weren't much better. Cherise in particular was being horrible, she had graduated last year with honors and since then she's been studying at one of the most prestigious magical medical schools in the country. She couldn't help but rub it in my face.

I don't think I'd be sane now if it weren't for Bryony. She doesn't live here anymore but she tries not to leave me alone. She talks to me all the time, not about Cackles or how I was a disgrace to my family but about normal things. Things like her work and football and what her friends have been doing. I love her for that but even she couldn't me feel better.

So I was very surprised when I woke up one morning and for some reason I was just sick of feeling bad, I was over it and it wasn't me. I started to do things, Bryony was so happy. She couldn't stop smiling when she saw me laugh again.

"You see Mildred!" she laughed one morning. "Things are getting better!"

That particular morning was busier than usual. One reason was because Bryony was home, normally she lived in a flat at London but because of me she'd been visiting a lot more. Mum was rushing around the house snapping at everyone. She'd been told to re-write the latest draft of her book and was taking her disappointment out on us. Tayla and William were arguing at the kitchen table, screaming at each other for some unknown reason. This wasn't helping mum, she yelled something about ridiculous behavior and then threw them some money, telling them to go and buy more bread. We needed more bread because Cherise was attempting to cook breakfast. In the past this had proven to be a real health hazard and today was no different. Twice already dad had taken the knives away from her. He was the only sane one that morning. In the middle of all this chaos he managed to sit at the kitchen table, reading his newspaper with a strong black tea and a pile of toast.

It was in the middle of all this chaos that it arrived. In a single streak of grey it flew into our already crowded kitchen and almost managed to land on the table. Instead it skidded horribly across it and ended up on the kitchen floor. By the time we realized it was an actual living owl Cherise had started screaming, mum was screaming at Cherise to stop screaming and Bryony was attempting to chase it out the window. It was dad who noticed the letter first.

"Everybody calm down!" he yelled. Slipping into teacher mode he quickly took control of the situation. "Cherise listen to your mother and stop screaming, it's just an owl. Victoria, darling, why don't you just sit down? And Bryony could you make yourself useful and put the kettle on please?"

The owl, now that it was no longer being harassed flew onto the table, landing properly this time and hobbled over to where I was perched on top of a chair. It cooed twice and then dropped the letter out from its beak. Confused I got down from the chair and picked up the letter. Once it was in my hands the owl screeched and then flew out the window. Slowly I turned the letter over in my hands. It was thick parchment, rough under my fingers, and sealed with red wax that has some sort of crest with a large H on it. I turned the letter over again. Written on the front, in green ink was:

_Miss Mildred Hubble,_

_The Kitchen Table,_

_16 Marion Way, North Berwick_

_Scotland._

"What is it Mildred?" Asked my father.

"It's addressed to me!" I said. My hands were shaking, I went to open the letter. Before I could though there was a knock on the door and someone yelled from the outside. "Hello! Hello? Can you please let me in?"

Before any of us could react mum was on her feet yelling at the top of her lungs. "Tayla, William there is no possible reason why you could be back already!" I think dad tried to stop her but before he could she marched over to the door and yanked it open, ready to give who she thought was either Tayla or William a real earful. It wasn't Tayla or William. It was instead a middle aged man with dark hair and a massive smile.

"You must be Victoria Hubble! I'm very pleased to meet you. Mind if I come in?" Without waiting to hear her answer the man walked past her and stepped into our crowded kitchen. He stared around for a couple of seconds before spotting me, just about to open the letter. "You must be Mildred." he said "I'm Professor Longbottom."

The fact that this man claimed to be a professor caught my father's attention. "A Professor? I don't believe I know you. Is there a reason you've come here?"

"Well it's about Mildred's letter now isn't it?" The man laughed. When he saw no one else was laughing he stopped. My family was staring at him, mum with steam coming out of her ears. He smiled at me. "Why don't you open your letter now?"

Silently I did as I was told. Inside the envelope were two pieces of parchment, both covered in swirly, green ink hand writing. I pulled out the first and read aloud:

"_Dear Miss Hubble,_

_We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry"_

My jaw dropped. There was more written after that but I didn't bother to read it. I'd been accepted into a school! A magical school! Maybe I could still be a witch! I was about to say something when Bryony consumed me in a massive hug.

"Oh my god Mills! This is fantastic! I told you things would get better!" She laughed and swung me around the room. I couldn't help but laugh as well. Professor Longbottom seemed pleased with our reactions. Mum however was furious.

"Mildred give me that letter" Silently I did as I was told, sensing that things weren't as fantastic as I thought. Mum read the letter quickly, her frown getting deeper as she did. When she was done she threw it onto the kitchen table and turned to Professor Longbottom. "I've never heard of this school. We have never applied for it, so how is it possible that my poor daughter has been accepted?" She was glaring at Professor Longbottom, if looks could kill he'd already be twenty feet under and pushing up daisy's.

"Well madam, she's been on the list since the day she was born, I know this might come as a bit of a shock, not many channelers come from the old magic families, but Mildred is an exception."

Mum wasn't listening. "My daughter has been through a very traumatic experience this summer! And now you come along to tease her about non-existent schools and second chances! This family has been through enough! This school does not exist and even if it did she would not be attending. She is incapable." With a small shudder mum stood up and opened the door for the Professor.

"Madam, please, if you will just listen to me, I'm sure I can explain, Mildred is perfectly capable of performing witch craft, she just hasn't been taught correctly"

"Victoria maybe you should listen to the man, I've never heard of this school but many choose to be secretive." said dad.

"Yeah mum." said Bryony "If there's a chance that she can learn properly isn't it worth it?"

Mum raised her chin slightly "Cackles Academy is the finest school for witches in the country, if Mildred couldn't learn there then there is no doubt that she is incapable. I do not appreciate your jokes Mr. Longbottom, now please leave!"

Being a smart man he could obviously see when he had no chances of being heard. Before he left though he quickly gave me a business card. "Mildred, please come and visit me in London!" he begged and then quickly left the kitchen. My mother sighed and turned to me.

"I'm so sorry you had to see that Mildred, some people just have no respect." Silently I grabbed my letter off the table and clutching the professor's business card I left the room. On my way out Cherise sent me a horrible glare.

"Don't worry Mildred, just because you incapable doesn't mean we don't love you" Her vicious smile though said otherwise. Laughing to herself she left the house. Probably off to spread the story of my letter to all her friends.

I didn't look at the letter again till that night. I'd gone for a walk and ended up sitting on a wall overlooking the ocean. It was grey tonight, swirly, foamy and slapping against the rocks. I loved the ocean, it made me feel so small, which helped me to realize that the world is bigger than Cackles and North Berwick. It reminded me that there was more out there.

Pulling the letter out from my pocket I unfolded it, bending the creases out the other way. It would be incredible if it was true. If there really was a school out there that was going to teach me. All I've ever wanted is to be a witch. I don't know what I'd do if I really was incapable. I was so deep in thought that I didn't hear Bryony come up behind me.

"I think you should go Mills" she whispered.

Slightly surprised I whispered back. "But what if it's a lie? What if it was just a joke that Cherise, or Tayla had planned?"

Bryony squeezed my shoulders. "The only way to find out is to go and ask. I'll take you to London to see Professor Longbottom. If he laughs in our face we can come home and deal with it, but it might not be a joke. This could be your only chance to study magic again, don't give it up because of the shame mum and dad think you caused, or because of a loser like Cherise. This is about you, and what you want."

I turned around to look at Bryony. She was holding Professor Longbottom's business card; I'd left it at home. She smiled and I knew she was right. This was what I wanted. I wanted to be a witch and maybe this Hogwarts was the only way I could get it.


	2. Past The Leaky Cauldron

**The Other Type of Magic**

**A Harry Potter / The Worst Witch Crossover**

**Chapter Two: Down in London**

It had been a week now since I'd gone with Bryony to London. I was staying in her flat which doubled as her fashion studio. This was a tiny place, barely room for one person to live. This wasn't helped by the fact the Bryony had never really understood order. There were sketch books, easels, paints and pastels spread out in the living room. The kitchen benches were covered with her sewing machine, patterns drawn on paper and rolls of fabric in hundreds of different colors, textures and patterns. She kept her paint brushes in the bathroom with a massive crate full of ribbons, buttons, wire and a lot of things that I wasn't really sure what they were. Sometimes she'd feel inspired to paint the walls, or re-tile the floor and then when she was halfway done decide that that was all it needed and leave the job half done. Not that you could really see the walls. On nearly every available surface she had pinned drawings and designs for her clothes, some were tiny, drawn onto napkins while she was out at a restaurant, others were full body size and incredibly detailed. Needless to say I loved staying with Bryony, I wasn't a bad drawer myself and sometimes she'd let me help with her designs.

My parents hadn't been happy when I'd left, they tried really hard to make me stay, but something inside me snapped and I just wanted out. I guess being a witch is worth more to me than I thought. That's how I ended up here, hanging onto Bryony in the middle of London, waiting outside a book shop for Professor Longbottom. It's very crowded and people keep stopping to stare at us, well mostly Bryony. Just recently she decided to chop off her hair for a pixie cut and cover it with purple streaks. This combined with her eccentric homemade clothes and jewelry really made her stand out in the crowd. Next to her I was invisible!

We'd been waiting for a while when a nice looking woman, with orangey blonde hair and large dimples came up to us.

"Are you the Hubbles?" When we nodded she smiled and kept talking. "I'm Hannah Longbottom, Neville's wife. He couldn't make it today so he asked me to show you around. I'll help you get your school supplies and answer any of your questions. Please don't hesitate to ask."

She led us past the burger store and up to a tiny little pub called the leaky cauldron. I can't remember seeing it before, I was sure it wasn't there. Watching the people walking past I saw that their eyes went from the book shop to the record store on the other side. They couldn't see it! I pointed this out to Hannah.

"They can't see it because they're muggles, that's what we call non-magical people. We don't want them finding out there's an entire magical world they don't know about! It's one of the biggest jobs for The Ministry of Magic, making sure that muggles remain completely oblivious to our magical society."

Bryony looked like she was about to ask a question but at this second Hannah opened the door to the Leaky Cauldron and lead us inside. The pub was dark, with tiny windows crammed into corners in an attempt to let some light in. We didn't stop though, instead were ushered through the pub and out a side door. We came out into a courtyard, with a couple of garbage bins in it. Instantly Bryony snapped. "Is this a joke?"

Hannah just laughed and pulled a wooden rod from her pocket. Curious I stared at it. "What is that?" I asked.

"This is my wand, it's what allows me to channel magic. That's the biggest difference between the magic you've been taught, and the type of magic you'll learn at Hogwarts. There the same type of magic really, but because we use a wand it enables us to channel the magic through it and create more powerful spells."

As she was speaking Hannah was tapping the bricks on the wall in front of us with her wand. Three up and two across. On the fifth tap the brick quivered, it actually moved. I shook my head to make sure I wasn't seeing things but then they moved again. Suddenly the bricks disappeared, and in its place was a tall brick archway. I stood there gaping. Hannah smiled. "Come on." Through the archway we came onto a wide cobbled street that veered up and down hills and cut off at mysterious angles. "This is Diagon Alley!'

Diagon Alley was like no place I've ever been before. There were shops that sold things I didn't think existed, and shops that look like they shouldn't exist at all! The people were wearing such a confusing array of clothes that Bryony didn't look out of place! I saw as many pairs of robes as jeans and jumpers! We walked for a short way, though it took a long time because we were constantly stopping to look at things. Hannah was very patient with us. This place was so much more, magical, then I could have imagined.

Hannah gave us a bag of money, explaining it was to buy my school supplies, and we would pay it back over the year. There were three types of coins. Large gold ones that Hannah called galleons, medium sized silver ones called Sickles and then tiny little bronze ones that she called Knuts. Once she had explained how the currency system worked I was taken to Madame Malkins to get my uniform and Flourish and Blotts to buy my school books, this store was incredible. I've never seen so many books in one place! Slowly we worked our way down the list of equipment.

**Uniform**  
First year students will require  
sets of plain workrobes (black)  
2. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear  
3. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)  
4. One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)

**Set Books**  
All students should have a copy of each of the following:  
The Standard Book of Spells (Grade One) by Miranda Goshawk  
A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot  
Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling  
A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch  
One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore  
Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger  
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander  
The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble

**Other Equipment**  
1 wand  
1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)  
1 set glass or crystal phials  
1 telescope  
1 set brass scales

Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad

**PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS**

"How come we aren't allowed our own brooms?" I asked Hannah. We had just passed a store selling the most incredible broom sticks, nothing like the ones we'd used at Cackles. These were sleek and shiny, some came with padded seats, or handles. Nothing like the enchanted bundle of twigs I'd know from Cackles. "Not that I mind or anything, it just seems a bit weird."

Hannah shrugged. "It's just a rule, many first years think they're expert flyers, but if their technique is wrong, which it normally is, they risk serious injury. It's to keep you safe." Smiling she added "Most rules are."

I wanted to keep having a conversation but at that second we entered the apothecary and I was overcome by the most horrible smell that I instantly clamped my mouth shut. The shop was dark and grimy, bottles full of eyeballs, juices and animal extracts lined the shelves, unicorn hair was hanging from the ceiling and boxes of boomslang, bezoars and dragon scales were stacked up behind the counter. The entire place made me shudder. I'd never been found of potions, HB had made sure of that. While I was thinking about all this and taking in the shop I didn't notice the boy till I walked into him. I stumbled backwards, tripping over my own feet and ended up slumped in a heap on the floor.

"I am so sorry! Are you okay?" The boy helped me to my feet with a worried expression on his face. When he saw I was alright it quickly changed. "I'm really sorry about that, I need to watch where I'm going."

"That's okay, I have the same problem." I smiled at him. He was tall, and had platinum blond hair that was slightly messy and hanging in front his eyes. He looked nice I decided. "I'm Mildred." I said.

"Hi Mildred, I'm Scorpious." He opened his mouth to say something else but was interrupted when Bryony came up behind me.

"There you are Mils! I was looking everywhere. Come on, it's time for you to get your wand!" I was so excited I could barley manage to say goodbye to Scorpious. I followed Bryon and Hannah down the alley. I was anxiously looking side to side searching for a sign with "wands" written on it. I don't know why I was so excited, this whole atmosphere was contagious. I had already figured out that the eleven year olds walking around with ecstatic grins and a mountain of packages were also first years. They were all so excited, they must have passed it on to me!

Eventually we stopped in front of a shop. It was small, narrow and shabby looking. Not the place I would have expected to sell wands. On a faded sign above the window _"Ollivanders: makers of fine wands since 382 BC" _was written. I followed Hannah and Bryony in to the store. It was silent inside, it was the kind of place that just made me feel like I shouldn't be talking. All along the walls hundreds of narrow boxes were stacked up in neat piles. On the end a tiny label was written in swirly gold handwriting. These labels would say things like:

_Ten and a quarter inches long, Willow and Unicorns Hair._

_Eleven inches long, Mahogany and Phoenix Feather._

_Nine inches long, Beachwood and Dragon Heart String._

I could see hundreds of combinations, and none at all were the same. I stood awkwardly in the center of the store for a moment, hanging onto Bryony while Hannah went up to the counter. She called out someone's name a couple of times, getting louder with each try. Suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulder. "Good afternoon." Resisting the urge to jump in surprise I turned around. A very old man was standing in front of me. He had lots of crazy white hair and big blue eyes. "I am Mr. Ollivander."

Hannah smiled. "Fantastic to see you again Ollivander."

"Ahh, Hannah Abbot. Six Inches, Willow and Dragons Heart String if I remember correctly."

"You always have!'" Hannah warmly shook Mr. Ollivanders hand. "This is Mildred and Bryony Hubble."

"A Hubble! We haven't had a Hubble in this store for over 600 years! Welcome!"

"There were other Hubble's who had wands?" I asked.

Mr. Ollivander seemed to sigh, he frowned "Not for a very, very, very long time, your family's never really been fond of change." Behind me I could tell Bryony was listening intently, and standing perfectly still. I could no longer hear her clothes swish around.

"I don't understand. What do you mean they weren't found of change?"

"You Hubbles are a very old family, you were around when Ollivanders first started making wands. You were also one of the few families who refused to embrace the wands and the power they gave us. You stuck to the old ways, and the old magics. Not fond of change." Here Mr. Ollivander trailed off as if deep in thought.

"It doesn't matter though, you made your choice, but I'm guessing you were a surprise. You always did things differently, or just struggled to do them anyway. You can channel, that's why you're here, so step up here please, you're wand can't find you if you're standing all the way back there!"

And so began the arduous process of my wand finding me. Mr. Ollivander measured my height, width, the length of my hand, fingers and the width between my nostrils. While doing this he explained a little to me about Ollivanders wands. "No two wands are the same, each one is special and unique and they all have one of three magical cores. These cores are magical on their own, but when combined with the wand, and the magic we channel through them they enable us to do incredible things. Here we use Phoenix feather, Unicorn hairs and Dragon Heart Strings. Other makers prefer different cores, Griffin Feathers, Veela hair but they can be very sporadic and create inefficient wands. The wand chooses the wizard, or in this case witch, so you will never receive your normal results using another wizards wand. There all done."

Stepping back from me he went behind the counter and seemingly picked at random a dozen of the wand boxes. With a smile he pulled a dark wand form it's box. "Here, try this one. Thirteen inches, Oak and Unicorns Hair." I reached out but no sooner had I grabbed it then he whisked it away from me. He then passed me another wand. "Twelve inches, Maple and again Unicorns hair." This wand was also taken away. This continued for several minutes, the number of wands that had rejected me growing. I was beginning to fear that Hogwarts had made a mistake, that I couldn't channel and I really was incapable. What if none of the wands wanted me? Then it found me.

"Unusual combination, Twelve and a half inches, Cherry and Phoenix Feather. I think this could be it." He passed the wand to me and instantly I felt a warm glow spread all the way up my arm and then fizzling out down my body. Instinctively I raised the wand above my head and a shot of water burst out. It seemed to hover in the air for a moment, and then as it fell to the ground it changed colors continuously. Red, violet, green, pink, silver, brown, gold, aqua and then, just as it was about to hit the ground it slowed and hovered just above the hardwood floors. Then it shimmered, and gently lowered onto the ground. It lay there now as a solid, still changing color.

"I knew this was the one, quite an unusual display, most people only manage a couple of sparks, a burst of flowers or in stressful cases a ball of fire." He smiled at me. "Mildred I think you are going to do very well at Hogwarts."

Bending down I picked up my iridescent, continually changing color icicle. It was beautiful. Bryony hugged me. "I think she will to."


	3. Boarding the Train

_DISCLAIMER: I am not the owner or creator of any recognizable characters, themes or places. No matter how much I wish I was. _

_AUTHORS NOTE: Please read and review! Reviews are better than chocolate and last longer too!_

**The Other Type of Magic**

**A Harry Potter / The Worst Witch Crossover**

**Chapter Three: **

After my visit to Diagon Alley I couldn't wait to get to Hogwarts. I'd taken to carrying my wand around with me and spent hours searching through my new school books. It was not uncommon for Bryony to come into the room that I had claimed to see me fast asleep in bed, a book on my lap and Tabby curled around the back of my neck.

I tried to talk to mum and dad. I think they've accepted that I'll be going to Hogwarts but I don't think they like it. Tayla and William were really supportive, they even seemed excited for me but maybe they were just looking forward to the extra room in the house. I'm not really sure. I haven't been trying to talk to Cherise. The last thing she said to me was that she hoped they realized I was incapable before I arrived at the school. I don't know why she's so horrible.

When we said goodbye to Hannah in London she gave me a train ticket, telling me to be at Kings Cross Station before eleven on the first if September. I hadn't really looked at it then, I was still so excited but now I wish I could remember where I'd put it. It was nine in the morning on the first of September and Bryony and I were incredibly unprepared. In the space of two weeks all of my things had managed to spread themselves all over Bryony's tiny flat in ways that I couldn't have imagined. Bryony's disregard for order must be contagious.

Finally we managed to get everything and squeeze it into a trunk for me. Tabby was put away in his cat carrier, my wand was in my pocket and now all I needed was the train ticket. After several stressful minutes of frantic searching I pulled it from the pocket of Bryony's homemade jeans.

"Bryony! I found it, we can leave now!"

"Thank god Mils! I was starting to get worried!"

Bryony grabbed my trunk, I grabbed Tabby and we both climbed into Bryony's tiny car. We arrived at Kings Cross with thirty minutes to spare.

"Okay Mils, what platform do we need?" Asked Bryony while she was pulling my trunk onto a trolley.

"It says I need to catch the train from platform nine and three quarters."

"Really Mils? Nine and three quarters?"

"That's what the ticket said."

Bryony shrugged. "Platform nine and three quarters it is then!"

She pushed the trolley through the crowds. People seemed to step out of our way, it could have been because Bryony was pushing the trolley like a mad man or maybe it was just because it was Bryony pushing the trolley. Once again she managed to dress in more colors than many people had seen in their life. We arrived at platform nine, next to it was platform ten. There was no in-between platform.

"These people just like to make things difficult don't they?" Sighed Bryony "Any idea where the platform is?"

I shook my head. "I have no idea."

We stood there in front of the platform feeling incredibly lost. I wanted to ask someone but Bryony said that these people had been so secretive that chances were only the students and their families knew how to get onto the platform. I was starting to get worried. What if I couldn't find it? I turned around and then I heard a group of people say something that caught my attention.

"I don't know why you have to catch the train from here. It is so inconvenient; this place is always packed with muggles."

The word muggles was what caught my attention. Leaving Bryony with the trolley I spun around, looking for who had said it. That's when I ran into him. I slammed right into his chest and slipped over backwards ending up on the cold concrete.

"I am so sorry! Are you okay?" the person helped me to my feet and that's when I recognized him. It was Scorpious from the apothecary. "Oh it's you, are you starting Hogwarts as well?" He asked.

"Yeah, I'm just trying to figure out how to get onto the platform"

"Oh, it's really easy, you just have to walk through the wall between platform's nine and ten. It's a bit freaky but I promise you won't bang into it." I smiled at him and he smiled back. He opened his mouth to say something else but once again Bryony, who had seen me fall, came over and interrupted.

"Are you okay Mils?" She asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. This is Scorpious, I meet him in the apothecary. He was just explaining how we got on the platform."

"That's brilliant, how do we?"

"We just have to walk through the wall."

Bryony laughed. "Of course it would be something like that! Why didn't we think of it?"

"Scorpious, what are you doing?" A tall woman, with a pointed face and jet black hair came up to us.

"Nothing mum, this is Mildred, the girl I meet in the apothecary remember?"

Scorpious's mum smiled at that. "I'm Astoria Malfoy. Are you starting Hogwarts as well?"

"Yeah, my first year."

"That's fantastic." Astoria smiled at me. When she smiled it went all the way up to her eyes. I couldn't ever remember my mum smiling at me like that. Next to Astoria another equally tall person came and stood next to her. He had the same platinum blonde hair as Scorpious and an even pointed face. I assumed this must be his father.

Bryony came over. "Hi I'm Bryony." She said shaking Astoria hand, Astoria smiled.

"This is my husband Draco, Mildred was just telling us that she's a first year with Scorpious."

"Yeah, she's the first one in our family." This seemed to catch Astoria off guard. Next to her Draco began to frown and Scorpious was staring at Bryony with mortification all over his face. I got the idea that she just said something she probably shouldn't have. Bryony though remained completely oblivious to the change of tone in the conversation.

Astoria smiled, this time though it didn't reach her eyes. Draco took his wife's hand. "It must have been such a shock for you to find out that Mildred was a witch." He said.

Bryony laughed "We always knew she was a witch, everyone in our family is, this is just the first time that anyone in our family has gone to Hogwarts. It's been nice talking to you." Laughing at their shocked faces she took my trolley with one hand and me with the other and walked calmly up to the wall between the two platforms and glided through.

I couldn't help but close my eyes when we went through the wall, but just as Scorpious had said I didn't bang into it. I experienced a slightly shivery sensation and then I opened my eyes. I couldn't keep back my gasp.

I was standing on a platform that was crowded with hundreds of kids and their families. There were also an abundance of owls, cats and trunks levitating themselves onto the train. The train itself was a massive black and red steam train with Hogwarts Express painted onto the side in gold. Hanging onto Bryony's arm we weaved our way through the crowds. I couldn't see any teachers standing around, and I was a little unsure what to do. Thankfully Bryony seemed much more confident.

"Come on, I'll help you find a compartment, it looks like they're getting ready to go."

Looking around I could see that Bryony was right. I passed a girl with lots of curly red hair who was already in her Hogwarts robes hugging goodbye to a small boy who was sobbing something along the lines of I want to go too. We skirted past a pair of dark haired siblings with pale skin who were arguing with each other as they said goodbye to their parents and Bryony made several remarks about the turquoise hair of a very tall boy who was passionately kissing goodbye to a blonde haired student.

We found a carriage that seemed less crowded and Bryony helped me into a compartment. She hugged me really hard and it was only then that I realized I was going away for a very long time, at least at Cackles I had known what to expect. Bryony squeezed my arms.

"Don't worry Mildred, you'll do fantastic, write me lots of letters!" Then she kissed me on the forehead, passed me Tabby's cat carrier and then just as the train whistle was blowing for the last time she stepped off the train. I waved goodbye. On the platform Bryony waved back. "Good luck Mils!" And that was the last thing I heard her say as the Hogwarts Express sped away from platform nine and three quarters. I was going to Hogwarts.

I was pretty much by myself in the compartment. I let Tabby out of his carrier and he stood on my knees staring at the passing scenery. Breathing deeply I couldn't help but feel nervous. I had no idea what to expect. Suddenly the compartment door slid open and Scorpious appeared in the gap.

"Hey, mind if I sit in here? It's packed everywhere else."

"Sure." I said glad for the company and a familiar face. It was silent for a little while. I scratched the back of Tabby's neck and the compartment was full of the sound of him purring.

"Are you really the first person in your family to go to Hogwarts?" asked Scorpious suddenly.

I laughed a little. "Yeah, my entire family is really traditional, they all have magic but I'm the only one who got a letter for Hogwarts." I grinned. "Your parent's faces were hysterical when Bryony said that."

Scorpious laughed as well. "Yeah, your mum gave them quite a shock."

"Bryony's not my mum! She's my sister! She's twenty two. I was born when she was eleven." I explained with a laugh.

"Oh my god, I am so sorry! She's just the only person I've ever seen you with."

"Yeah, well my parents and I aren't really getting along at the moment."

"I'm sorry."

"That's cool, it'll figure itself out."

Our conversation was interrupted when the door to the compartment was slid open again. It was the curly red haired girl I'd seen on the platform. Behind her was a boy with messy dark hair and green eyes.

"Hi, mind if we sit in here?" She asked, gesturing at the two empty seats next to us.

"Sure." I said. Opposite me Scorpious squirmed in his seat, obviously uncomfortable.

"I'm Albus Potter, and this is my cousin Rose Weasley." The dark haired boy said "Are you first years as well?"

"Yeah, I'm Mildred Hubble and this is Scorpious Malfoy." I said. The second I said Scorpious's name Rose visibly stiffened. She looked around the compartment uncomfortably eventually settling her eyes on Tabby.

"That's a really cute kitten, what's his name?"

"Tabby." I said, pleased to be able to show him off to people who didn't laugh at him for not being a black cat.

Albus leaned over to tickle his chin. "He kinda looks like a younger, grey and friendlier version of Crookshanks."

"Yeah." Mumbled Rose, who was still obviously feeling uncomfortable. Scorpious was staring out the window and Albus seemed to be oblivious to the tension his cousin and Scorpious were causing.

"Suddenly Rose stood up. "I just remembered something, we have to go and see Fred and Roxanne, come on Albus."

"What are you talking about?" Asked Albus as Rose pulled him up from his seat. "I don't remember getting told that. Did Uncle George say something or" Albus was cut off as Rose pulled him from the compartment.

"What was that about?" I asked once they were gone.

Scorpious sighed. "It's about me, because I'm a Malfoy."

"I don't understand, why would that mean anything?"

"Our parents never really got along at school, my dad was actually kind vicious, hardly a day went by when he wasn't mocking her dad and the stuff he said to her mum." Scorpious shook his head. "There was a lot of other stuff as well, scary stuff I'd rather not talk about it. Most people think that because I'm his son I must be just like him. You have no idea how horrible that is."

"I think I do actually." I said "I'm the youngest of five children. All my brothers and sisters are brilliant, so are my parents and so everybody else expected that I would be as well. But I'm not. I couldn't even get into the school that everyone in my family has attended. My parents were so ashamed of me, my mum couldn't speak to me. I'm not my family, I'm different, and people don't always understand that."

Scorpious nodded. "People judge you before they know you, and it's not fair."

I completely agreed with him. I didn't know for sure but I was fairly certain that Scorpious and I were going to be brilliant friends. The train sped past towns and houses which eventually thinned out into farm fields, lakes and dark forests. I settled back into my chair and listened as Scorpious talked about how nervous he'd been when he got his letter. I was starting to feel like I had made the right choice. I wasn't sure what was going to happen next but I couldn't wait to find out.


	4. Trying on the Hat

_DISCLAIMER: Excluding the Sorting Hat Song I am not the owner or creator of any recognizable characters, themes or places. _

_AUTHORS NOTE: This chapter took me longer to write because I had to plan out everything, this included the plot, characters and everything else. _

_Please Review! I really really would love some feedback, good or bad it doesn't bother me. Just tell me what you thought!_

**The Other Type of Magic**

**A Harry Potter / The Worst Witch Crossover**

**Chapter Four: Trying on the Hat**

The train pulled up into Hogsmede Station very nosily, with clouds of steam and smog trailing back past the windows.

"I'm so nervous!" I said to Scorpious. We had already changed into our school robes and I was nervously wringing my hands as we waited for the train to make its final stop. "What are we supposed to do now?" I asked as we pulled to a stop.

Scorpious frowned, I could tell he was just as nervous as I was. "We leave our things here and get off the train. Dad said that there's always someone to meet the first years."

"I really hope your right." I said as I followed him out of the compartment. Once we were outside I couldn't see or hear anything. It was so incredibly noisy! There were people everywhere, yelling, laughing, trying to catch up with friends. I might be tall but I felt tiny stuck in that big crowd.

Suddenly I heard a massive voice coming out over the crowd. "First Years! First Years over here!"

Scorpious grabbed my sleeve and pulled me through the crowds until we reached the source of the massive voice. It was a massive man, taller than anyone I had ever seen before. He had a massive long beard that was black and streaked with tiny bits of grey, he was wearing a massive overcoat with hundreds of different sized pockets and in his hand he was holding a massive lantern.

"Are you first years?" he asked us.

Feeling just a little overwhelmed at the sight of him I nodded.

"Excellent, that's all forty, come on now, follow me down to the boats!"

We followed the giant man off the platform and down a wide street until we reached the edge of a lake. I noticed that there were a lot of people in this crowd. The only two I recognized though were Albus and Rose. They were standing right up next to the giant man talking like old friends.

"Now everyone, just climb into a boat, no more than four and don't worry about steering, they do that themselves."

I followed Scorpious into a boat and we were quickly joined by an olive skinned girl with dark hair and a very tall, skinny girl with lots of golden curls and massive blue eyes.

"Hi Scorpious." Said the olive skinned girl. "Who's your friend?"

Scorpious smiled. "This is Mildred Hubble, Mildred this is Holly Zabini, our family's are friends."

"Hi Holly." I said. Holly smiled before introducing the blonde girl.

"This is Tiffany Hewitt, it's the first time anyone in her family's gone to Hogwarts." She explained.

Tiffany tried to smile. "I'm so scared." She said. "I keep expecting to wake up, or to find out it's a massive joke."

"I know the feeling, it's my family's first time too." I said. Tiffany smiled, I could tell she was glad she wasn't the only one.

Our conversation was cut short as we skirted around the edges of a massive cliff. That's when we got out first views of Hogwarts. It was beautiful. The castle was built on a mountain and had hundreds of turrets, balconies and arched windows. It looked incredible! I heard several people gasp at the sight.

"It's incredible isn't it?" I said to Scorpious. He only nodded in response, his mouth hanging open slightly.

Suddenly the giant yelled for us to put our heads down as we passed under an overhanging cliff. The boats sailed themselves under the overhang, through a curtain of dark ivy and into a tunnel that seemed to be built into the cliff itself. We travelled down the dark tunnel, all of the boats in single file. Eventually we came out into a wide harbor that looked as if it was built under the castles foundations. We climbed out of the boats and the giant led us out though a large tunnel until we eventually came out onto the castles rolling green lawns. We walked up some stone steps until we arrived at a massive oak front door. The giant man raised one of his fists and knocked loudly.

Without warning the doors swung open. Standing in the entrance hall was Professor Longbottom. I recognized him from our first meeting but he looked very different in wizards robes.

"Are these the first years Hagrid?"

"Yes Professor Longbottom, all forty of them."

"Brilliant, thank you Hagrid, I'll take it from here."

The giant man, Hagrid, waved goodbye and then disappeared into the castle. Nervously I followed Scorpious and Holly inside. Professor Longbottom led us across the polished flagged stone floor. The entrance hall was huge, Bryony's apartment would have easily fitted inside it. The ceiling was nearly impossible to see and directly opposite the front door was a beautiful marble staircase that led to the upper floors.

We were quickly ushered down a wide hall and then into a small chamber that was relatively bare. At the end of the hall I could hear the sound of hundreds of people talking and lots of laughter. That must be where the Great Hall was, and by the sounds of it I guessed it was already packed.

"Welcome to Hogwarts!" Cried Professor Longbottom cheerily. "The start of term feast is about to begin but before you can go and fill yourselves up with that fantastic feast you need to be sorted into your houses. Your houses are really, really important while you are here. They become your family, you have classes with them, spend your free time in the house common rooms and sleep with your housemates in the dormitories.

At the end of each year the House Cup is awarded to the house that can earn the most house points during the year. Triumphs will earn points and when you're caught breaking rules, you'll lose points.

The four houses we have are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Each house has an incredible history and has produced some fantastic wizards and witches. Whichever one you're placed in I wish you good luck, I'll be back in a minute where we're ready for you, please try and stay quiet."

The Professor left the room and slowly we began to break into whispered conversations.

"How do we get sorted?" I whispered to Scorpious.

"I'm not really sure, my dad said it doesn't hurt but that's about it, he said it would be better if it was a surprise."

"I'm still figuring out if I like surprises." I whispered back. "I've been getting quite a few these last couple of weeks."

Scorpious laughed quietly but was cut off as Professor Longbottom came back into the chamber.

"Come on now, we're ready for you!"

We quickly made a line and followed Professor Longbottom out of the chamber and into the Great Hall. At my first glance of it I couldn't help but gasp.

The Great Hall was lit by hundreds of floating candles that were hanging above four massively long wooden tables. Above each table a banner hung, I quickly realized that these were the house banners and the tables must be for each house. The tables were packed with the other students, many were talking quietly, laughing or staring at their golden plates hungrily. A few were smiling or waving at some of the first years in the line. I saw Albus wave to a boy with bright red hair sitting at the far left table. I wondered if they were brothers. The most fantastic thing about the hall though was definitely the ceiling. In fact it didn't look like there was a ceiling! Looking up you could see right through to the sky outside. Every star was visible and it looked fantastic. I was completely in awe.

We arrived at the top of the hall and stood nervously in a large group. Professor Longbottom came forward and placed a three legged stool in front of us and a shaggy brown hat. Everyone in the hall was silent, and they all seemed to be staring at the hat. I went to whisper something to Scorpious when I was cut off as the hat opened its mouth.

"_Welcome all be you short or tall_

_I'll find a house for you._

_Cause I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat_

_And that's just what I do._

_Do you belong in Gryffindor?_

_With the chivalrous and brave._

_Or maybe down in Slytherin,_

_Where success is what they crave._

_Perhaps you homes with Hufflepuff,_

_Where they are strong and true._

_Or maybe intelligent Ravenclaw,_

_Is the only home for you._

_Either way you'll soon find out_

_Just come and try me on._

_I'll take a look inside your mind,_

_And say where you belong!"_

At the end of his song the hat bowed to each of the four tables who were applauding loudly and then resumed its inanimate state on the stool.

Still smiling Professor Longbottom came and took the hat. He was also now holding what looked like a very thick scroll.

"When I call your name come forward, take a seat on the stool and try on the hat."

A couple of the first years laughed nervously. I was so thankful we didn't have to do magic in front of the whole school. All we had to do was try on a hat! We stopped talking as Professor Longbottom unraveled the scroll and read the first name.

"Ackerly, Leyton."

Looking petrified a small boy with sandy brown hair pushed his way from the back of the group and nervously walked up to the Sorting Hat. He climbed onto the stool and with a reassuring smile Professor Longbottom lowered the hat onto his head. The entire hall was silent as we waited for the hats response.

Suddenly the silence was broken as the hat screamed out "GRYFFINDOR!" and the table on the far left burst out into applause. Looking relieved Leyton jumped off the stool, handed the hat to Professor Longbottom and then ran down the steps to join the table.

Once he was seated Professor Longbottom called the next first year up.

"Atella, Lucas" Called Professor Longbottom.

Lucas sat down on the stool there was a moments pause before-

"HUFFELEPUFF!" The right table cheered and with a massive smile Lucas went down to the Hufflepuff table.

After Lucas Atella Mark Avery was put in Slytherin and Anthony Bagman became the first new Ravenclaw. With growing nervousness I listened as Professor Longbottom worked his way down in alphabetical order through the list.

I applauded loudly as Tiffany was sorted into Ravenclaw. Now it was my turn.

"Hubble, Mildred." Feeling like my stomach was full of lead I walked up to the stool. Professor Longbottom placed the hat on my head. Suddenly I heard a voice in my ear.

"_Mildred Hubble, haven't had a Hubble here before, but, you're no muggle born. Very interesting." _

I glanced from side to side, sincerely hoping that no one else could hear the voice.

"_You work hard, and are so determined to succeed, I can see how much you want to prove your family wrong, so ambitious. Yet you are also very selfless, you have done things you don't like because you knew they were the right thing. You have show bravery. So I guess, it better be."_

And then he yelled to the entire crowd. "GRYFFINDOR!"

Instantly it felt like a weight had been lifted off me. As I gave the hat to Professor Longbottom and walked towards the table that was applauding I felt so excited.

I sat down at the Gryffindor table, shook hands with several people and then watched as the rest of the first years were sorted. Scorpious was called up after Corey Macmillian was sorted into Hufflepuff. He looked petrified as he walked up to the stool, almost sick. I could see several people whispering as he walked up, and several people smirking at the Slytherin table.

After nearly a minute the hat opened its mouth and yelled to the crowd "GRYFFINDOR!" and then Scorpious fell off the stool. The applause was mixed with laughter and looking like he'd just seen the dead walking Scorpious passed the hat to Professor Longbottom and rubbing his backside he walked down to the Gryffindor table. I was thrilled we were in the same house. Scorpious looked like he was still in shock.

"I think I was just disinherited." He said as he sat down next to me.

"Don't worry about it, at least we're in the same house right?"

"Yeah." Scorpious smiled at last.

After Scorpious the sorting seemed to go fairly quickly. Albus Potter joined us at the Gryffindor table and was hugged by several people before starting a very noisy conversation with Scorpious about something called Quidditch.

Then a pair of twins, Elizabeth and Michael Thomas were sorted into different houses, Elizabeth into Gryffindor and Michael into Hufflepuff. Both of them looked like they were about to burst into tears as they went to their separate tables.

Rose Weasley was one of the last to be sorted and like her cousin was put into Gryffindor. After her there was only another four. The sorting ended with Holly Zabini being sorted into Ravenclaw. When she had taken her seat the Headmistress stood up. Scorpious had whispered earlier to me that her name was Professor McGonagall.

"Welcome all to the new school year! I hope that this sorting is the beginning of a fantastic time at Hogwarts for you. While you are here, whether for the first time or are if you have returned to us then I can promise that you will have an exceptional year. Now however I think it's about time we started our feast!" She clapped her hands and suddenly the blank golden plates in front of me filled with food. There was more food then I had ever seen piles and piles stacked on golden platters. Roast beef, roast pork, a hundred different types of potatoes, vegetables, pastas, bowls of rice and stir-fry's.

"Is dinner like this every night?" I asked no one in particular.

Across from me the red haired boy I'd seen waving to Albus sighed. "Not every night, unfortunately, but you never get second class stuff. I'm James Potter by the way." And then he resumed eating. I had been right. He and Albus were brothers.

After I had eaten to nearly my bursting point the plates were cleared magically with a clap of McGonagall hands and then instantly replaced with platters and bowls full of jelly's, ice-cream, puddings, cakes and pineapple fritters. Suddenly I felt very hungry again.

When for the second time I felt like I had reached my bursting point McGonagall cleared the tables with a clap of her hands, gave a speech that I didn't really hear but I think she was sending us to bed. Then I followed a voice calling Gryffindor first years out of the hall and up the marble staircase. I was practically asleep on my feet. Eventually we arrived at a large portrait of a fat lady in a pink silk dress. She smiled at us. "Password?"

The prefect who had been leading us here answered. "_fortis quod pia,_ this is the password everyone, please try to remember it and do not share it or the location of the common room to anyone from the other houses."

The fat lady portrait swung open and I climbed through into the Gryffindor room. It was round with lots of comfy armchairs and large fireplaces. The prefect directed the girls up to one staircase to a dormitory and the boys to another. Saying goodnight to Scorpious I climbed the spiral staircase and found a bed in the round dormitory. I was so tired that all I could do was get into my p.j's and tumble into bed. I can remember before falling asleep that I should write to Bryony about all this. She'd want to know everything. Then I slowly drifted into a deep, warm sleep.


	5. Finding Our Place

_DISCLAIMER: I am not the owner or creator of any recognizable characters, themes or places. _

_Please Review! I really, really would love some feedback, good or bad it doesn't bother me. Just please, please tell me what you thought!_

**The Other Type of Magic**

**A Harry Potter / The Worst Witch Crossover**

**Chapter Five: Finding our Place.**

I have never been a morning person, I like my sleep and lots of it but on my first morning in my new dormitory this wasn't a problem. I woke up slowly and wiping my eyes I tried to figure out where I was. Ah, that's right, I'm at Hogwarts. This woke me up faster. I got so excited by the thought that I was a Hogwarts that I managed to fall out of my bed. This is a lot harder to do then it sounds because our beds are massive four posters, and I like to sleep curled up right in the middle. I managed to do it anyway and landed with a thump on the ground, waking up my dorm mates.

There are five of us in my dormitory, myself, Rose Weasley, Elizabeth Thomas, Samantha Wood and Jessa Stanton. We had very briefly introduced ourselves before climbing into bed last night. Anyway, me falling out of bed seemed to wake everyone up and we were able to introduce ourselves properly.

Lizzy, as she said she was called, had claimed the bed next to me. She was tall, with dark skin that was just a shade shy of being black. Her mother was a witch from South Africa who worked with the South African Ministry of Magic. Her dad also worked for the Ministry of Magic and they had met in South Africa where he was based. Her twin brother Michael, who was in Hufflepuff, and her had lived mostly in South Africa but her dad had wanted them to go to Hogwarts so they'd been in the UK for a while. I thought she was so lucky, the furthest away I'd ever been away from home was well, Hogwarts.

The bed next to Lizzy had been claimed by Samantha Wood, or more simply just Sam. She had two brothers, both of them younger than her. Her dad was a professional Quidditch player, Keeper for the English team. I wasn't sure what this meant but it sure sounded impressive. Her mum was a Healer, specializing in sports injury that's how her had parents started dating. She said they'd known each other at Hogwarts but he was four years older. Her dad was badly injured in his first game for the English team. After it he was too scared to start playing again and her mum had helped him to get his confidence back.

Rose Weasley had the second bed next to me. We had already met on the train but she said she had a younger brother, Hugo, who would be starting in two years. Her parents had met on the train for Hogwarts in their first year, and after he saved from a mountain troll they became friends. Now she said that her dad was an Auror and her mum worked in the Department of Magical Law as a representative for magical creatures.

The fifth girl in the dormitory was a girl called Jessa Stanton. She was average height and had long dark brown hair. She said she was a muggle born and had been ecstatic when she received her letter. She loved reading she said and when she was in primary school had loved muggle books about magic and fantasy. She was learning they were nothing like the real thing of course but was so happy it was real. She claimed it made her think anything was possible.

I simply told them I was the youngest of five children, with three sisters and a brother. I said that everyone in my family was magical but I was the first to go to Hogwarts. My dad was the Headmaster of an all boys school that my brother attended and that my mum was a magical scientist. I spoke briefly about how Bryony was my favorite sibling. She was a brilliant witch but had given it up to start her own fashion label. _Black Sheep Designs_.

After all this we went down stairs and I meet up with Scorpious in the common room. He was talking to a short boy with a massive smile and huge eyes. As I walked up the short boy smiled, waved goodbye and followed Albus and two other boys I didn't know out of the portrait hole.

"Who was that?" I asked.

"Oh, that's Colin Creevey. He's in my dorm. He's pretty cool."

"Yeah, the girls are pretty nice in mine too. Who else is in yours?"

"Well there's me, obviously, Colin, Albus Potter, Leyton Ackerly and Craig Jordan. Colin and Leyton are best mates, their dads were in the same year and they're practically brothers."

"I wish I had a friend like that, or if I at least knew more people here, those names you said mean nothing to me."

"Don't worry about it, by the end of the week you'll know everyone."

Though I doubted it at the time Scorpious was right and by the end of the week I did know nearly all of the first years, at least by name, and everyone was starting to figure out where they fitted in. Rose and Jessa became really close with Lizzy and Sam found her best friend with Craig. She was a self admitted Tomboy and Quidditch fanatic and he shared her views with a passion. I had very briefly tried to join in a conversation with them about it but I'd simply been blown away. I had no idea what this Quidditch was about yet and all I'd gained from the conversation was that the two boys I'd been introduced to from Ravenclaw, Henry Krum and Robin Lynch, had a lot to live up too. The last two guys from Gryffindor, Colin and Leyton, stuck together like glue, they really were just like brothers.

The only person who hadn't attached himself to a particular group was Albus. He mixed with everyone regardless of their age, house or if they hated his guts. He just got along with everyone. He and Scorpious really hit it off, pretty soon whenever Scorpious and I were together he joined us. The three of us soon became pretty good friends.

When I got fed up with being surrounded by Scorpious and Albus I was usually with Holly and Tiffany in Ravenclaw. They'd introduced me to a girl called Alice Longbottom. She tried to deny that Professor Longbottom was her dad but when you stood them next to each other it was impossible to believe her, it was so incredibly obvious. Alice turned out to be really nice, she was heaps of fun to be around and she'd also inherited her dad's massive smile.

In the middle of my very first Hogwarts breakfast, which was fantastic by the way, Lizzy introduced me to her brother Michael and her best friend Eloise Finnigan. They were both in Hufflepuff and without even trying lived up what their house was famous for. They were some of the nicest people I've ever met.

Unfortunately not everyone was so nice. After getting my timetable from Professor Longbottom I realized that I'd brought all of the wrong books so while Scorpious went to class I ran all the way back up to Gryffindor Tower. Incredibly I didn't get lost once. I was feeling pretty proud of myself until I tried to find my class. James had given me directions when I left the Gryffindor table so I was fairly sure I knew where I was going. I was wrong. After fifteen minutes and several staircases moving from under my feet I had to admit that I was lost. Feeling frustrated I turned a corner and walked right into the back of a very tall, skinny girl. I don't know what it is with me and walking into people backs but it happens way too often.

"Watch where you're going!" snapped the girl.

"I'm really sorry, I'm just trying to find my class." I turned to leave down the corridor I had first walked up when I was confronted by an identical girl. They were twins. Both of them were tall, with short, dead straight hair and grey eyes. They were unnaturally pale and next to each other they resembled a pair of porcelain dolls.

"Well it's not here is it? So go on, scat!" snapped the second one.

"That is what I'm trying to do. You shouldn't be standing around in the corridors anyway, unless this is actually your classroom?" I admit now that was probably a dumb thing to say, but I was frustrated, slightly mad and not in the mood to be bossed around.

"Not that we need to be telling you but we're wagging History of Magic, so once again, scat, you're cramping out style." The first twin practically hissed this statement.

"I'm so sorry! I wasn't aware that hiding in empty corridors to get out of your very first class at Hogwarts was in style. I must be so oblivious." I couldn't help but laugh. Both of the twins were glaring at me, practically giving me daggers.

Laughing at them I walked away. I eventually found my classroom thanks to Nearly Headless Nick, the ever present ghost of Gryffindor Tower. Getting used to the ghosts had been a bit of a shock. When I first meet Nick I literally screamed at the site of him, I'd improved from that initial shock and embarrassment and was now used to seeing transparent people floating through doors and suddenly appearing under my feet as they came through the ceiling.

I got to my class okay, Transfiguration with Professor Boot and the Ravenclaws. The Professor glared at me but said he could let me off just this once. Feeling very lucky I slipped into a seat at the back of the room. The class ended with no wands being used and us receiving more notes then we could possibly learn and memorize in a lifetime.

Most of the classes on our first day followed this pattern, lots of theory and no wand waving, incantations or anything I thought was slightly magical. I won't say I wasn't disappointed. Thankfully the very castle made up for this. There were over 300 stair cases at Hogwarts, some led to a different floor on a Tuesday or if you tried to climb them at the wrong hour there would be not enough steps for you to reach the floor you needed. All of the characters in the portraits could move, talk and if they got particularly angry fling things from their frames at passing students. Very few people are dumb enough to wind them up to that level. Apparently Albus managed to do this on his second day.

I had another encounter with the porcelain twins on Tuesday morning. The first years Gryffindors had potions with the Slytherin first years. Potions were held down in the dungeons, at the very bottom of the castle. I'm sorry to say that they're the only place I don't like in Hogwarts. The potions professor was a different matter though. Professor Creswell was apparently a bit of a legend from the second wizarding war. He'd faked his death and everyone had believed him, then when it was resolved he'd reappeared with a ton of detailed information about the Death Eaters. I didn't know much about these wizarding wars but I had realized that a lot of people had been affected by them. Despite all this Professor Cresswell was really nice, being head of Hufflepuff house I should have expected that.

Anyway it just so happened that the twins were in this potions class. The potion we were meant to be making was a color change potion. It's incredibly easy to make and practically impossible to get wrong. It's basically paint which turns everything into a rainbow and it has very interesting results if drunk. I was working on a table with Albus, Scorpious and Lizzy and we'd actually managed to make our own potions ahead of schedule. Now we were taking tiny sips and painting our names into the side of our cauldrons. We were laughing at Albus, who after painting his hair now had instead of his naturally messy black hair now had still messy but also continuously changing rainbow colored hair.

We were still laughing when I began to carry our left over ingredients back to the store cupboard. Professor Cresswell was currently in the room behind the classroom looking for something. I was laughing so hard I didn't see the evil grin that one of the Slytherin boys was giving me as I walked past, so I also didn't notice his foot sticking out. I tripped over, managing to send all of the potion ingredients flying up through the air and of course, thank you gravity, they came flying back down again landing right on top of the porcelain twins.

Twin A screamed while Twin B started waving her arms around trying to get the potion ingredients off. The ingredients were a sickly combination, Cornish Pixie Dust, Myrtle Root and Hinkypunk ink covered them, and they were reacting in vile ways. Twin A's hair was now very quickly falling out and Twin B had large purple boils appearing all the way up her arms and on her face. I just sat on the floor feeling absolutely bewildered. A couple of people were laughing, including the Slytherin boy who had tripped me over in the first place and started this whole fiasco. By now Professor Cresswell was back in the classroom and trying to restore order. After several minutes he finally had the class calmed down. The Porcelain Twins though were still screaming and crying while the rest of the class might have regained some type of order many of them were still sniggering behind their hands.

Eventually Twin A calmed down enough to realize that I must be the cause of her new baldness and for Twin B's new skin accessories. They started yelling at me, and then began to throw the potion ingredients at me. Feeling just a little bit scared of these furious twins I began to crawl backwards, just managing to dodge a lump of Myrtle Root that went whizzing past my shoulder.

"Please ladies! Restrain yourselves!" Professor Cresswell pulled the twins to their feet. They were screaming and yelling furiously at me.

"It's her fault Professor, she did this to us!" Screamed Twin A.

"She did it on purpose too!" Yelled Twin B.

Professor Cresswell ushered the twins out into the corridor and then sent another pair of Slytherin girls to take them up the hospital wing.

"What happened here? I was gone for five minutes!"

"I tripped Professor, the ingredients went everywhere." I mumbled.

Professor Cresswell sighed. "Class dismissed then, your homework is a one page essay on the correct use of potion equipment and set up of such equipment. This is due on Thursday. Miss Hubble you can stay to cleanup this mess, the rest of you I will see Thursday after lunch, please don't be late."

The class began to move out from the classroom, Scorpious and Albus gave me apologetic smiles but didn't stay to help me clean up. Professor Cresswell left the room, waving his wand so that a bucket full of soapy water and a sponge appeared. With a sigh I began to scrub the ground, attempting to remove the Hinkypunk Ink stains. I was going to be late for my next class.

I finally finished when the lunch bell went and groaning I stood up, when Hinkypunk Ink and Cornish Pixie Dust combine on slimy dungeon floors they combine in a sickly heap that sticks rock hard, making it very difficult to scrub off. I left the classroom and was very surprised to see Rose Weasley walking towards me.

"Hi, I explained to Flitwick why you didn't turn up, I brought you my notes, we have a test on Friday, I thought you could use them."

Rose and I weren't exactly besties so this was kind of unexpected, but I wasn't going to turn the offer down.

"Thanks that'd be great."

Rose smiled and passed me a roll of parchment. "I got Fred to use a duplication charm on it, it's an exact copy of mine."

"Fred?" I asked.

"Oh, he's my cousin, his in fourth year." Explained Rose.

"Who are those twins?" I asked as we left the dungeons. We passed the pair of them on the way up to the first floor. They were both giving me daggers. Twin A was still slightly bald.

"Oh, they're Adrianna and Belinda Goyle. They're everything their parents aren't, cunning, intelligent and a whole lot less painful on the eyes. Why'd they go after you so hard? Normally they just look down on everyone, you generally have to do something to tick them off before they react like that."

"Yeah." I said remembering yesterdays encounter. "Something like that might have happened." by now we were approaching the entrance of the Great Hall.

"Do you want to come and sit with me and Jessa?" Asked Rose as we walked in I would have said yes but I saw Scorpious calling me.

"Sorry, Scorpious is calling."

Rose frowned "Why do you hang out with him? Everyone says he's a."

"A what?" I interrupted "He told me people would judge him because he's a Malfoy, I'm not really sure why but it's stupid. You don't even know him, why don't you have a go at that before you decide anything?"

Feeling slightly mad I left Rose and sat down next to Scorpious. Hesitantly he asked me what was wrong. Pulling a plate of sandwiches in front of me I glared at Rose as she sat down next to Jessa.

"People are stupid." Scorpious grinned and the conversation ended there.

What I'd said to Rose obviously made her think a little. After lunch she sat next to Scorpious in our Defense Against the Dark Arts class and actually tried to talk to him. Slowly Rose and Scorpious began to relax around each other until they could manage to have an actual conversation. I still didn't understand the whole reason they were so hesitant to be friends but Albus said it was really because of their parents.

"They went to school with each other, and Scorpious's dad spent a lot of time making it miserable for Rose's parents. People expected Scorpious to be just like his dad." Here Albus trailed off in his little speech. He smiled. "He's not though is he? He's pretty nice."

I smiled as well. "Yeah, he is."

These first couple of days had been interesting, I hadn't exactly done much magic yet but just finding my way down for breakfast had been challenging enough. Now that I'd mastered that particular issue I think I was ready to tackle the actual magic side of this place.

**AUTHORS NOTE: **please, please review. I really, really would love some feedback, I just want to know what you thought, so if you could spare thirty seconds for it I would be so grateful.

Also I don't think I'll be able to update for a fair while. I'm not giving up on the story but I'm going away for at least nine weeks and I doubt that I'll find the time to update. I'll see what happens though. After that I will start updating again and I'll try to make it more regular.

Thank you for reading!

Kellsabelle.


	6. Reaching New Heights

_**Authors Note:**__This chapter took me ages to write, I was just finding it hard to focus and couldn't get the words down. It's finished now and hopefully people will like it, review it and basically encourage me to keep going! Suggestions and constructive criticism is always appreciated!_

**CHAPTER SIX:** _Reaching New Heights_

As I became more at Home at Hogwarts I began to realize just how much I loved this place. It had stolen my heart in a way that Cackles just hadn't managed. There I had always been afraid of what might happen, always looking out for whatever was going to go wrong next and constantly trying to live up to my famous families name. Here though nobody had even heard of the Hubbles. Many like Scorpious had assumed I was a muggle born. It was a fantastic feeling, like for the very first time I could do what I wanted without feeling like I was being judged. I loved my family, even Cherise but sometimes I felt like I just couldn't measure up to all of them. What made it worse is that I think they thought so too. At Hogwarts though my family didn't matter at all, if I made a mistake it was my mistake, not my family's. It was a liberating feeling.

So feeling newly liberated I was loving my time at Hogwarts. I love the moving suits of armor; I love the talking paintings and disappearing steps on the staircases. I can't wait for breakfast because I am just so eager to see the mail arrive. The only letters I get are from Bryony and that's only after I convinced Scorpious to help me send one because we had never used owls before. The more I talk with people here the more I realize how much muggle technology we actually use at home. This is one I got from her this morning:

"_Hey Mills! _

_I'm so glad to hear that you are having a good time, you're making me jealous! Things here have been crazy, I applied for a place at The Paris Christmas Fashion Show and Black Sheep Designs are in! I have been working round the clock to get the designs finalized, and I am discovering all these new fabrics and don't even get me started on the shoes! I am loving it though, I was really looking forward to seeing you at Christmas but now it looks like I'll be flat out. I am so sorry but you know how much this means to me. I'll try to get home after Christmas and see you before school starts though. You will have the most amazing French Christmas present I promise! _

_How have your classes been going? Is that Hufflepuff girl still blowing things up? Tell me everything Mills! Spare no detail please!_

_I love you Mills. _

_P.S: I had had hair extensions put in! I decided to go with a classy black look, thought I better class it up for Paris! It does look very stylish but Paul has been trying to convince me to dye the fringe purple, he can be very convincing but I feel it will just ruin the classy look I've been trying to work on. Take a look at the photo and tell me what you think!_

I was a little disappointed about not seeing Bryony, Christmas at home would be all right but I missed Bryony more then all my family put together. As for her hair, let's just say that Bryonies version of classy is what many people would call experimental. Her hair does look good though.

The classes have been pretty spectacular, funnily enough Potions is actually my favorite and I'm actually good at it! While many things are different here Potions it seems is the same and even if I did generally struggle to make the right potion at Cackles I was one of the few who could set up my cauldron and monitor the flame temperature without melting the cauldron base or leaving it poorly set up so that it will collapse halfway through the lesson sending half done potions out to flood the classroom. Eloise Finnegan somehow managed to blow her cauldron up during our second Potions class with the Hufflepuffs. Potions weren't the only surprise for me either. On our third week in as we were getting into bed on Friday night Sam came into the dorm absolutely ecstatic.

"Guess what Craig just told me! Seriously just try and guess!"

Lizzy put up a few suggestions but Sam was still bouncing around the walls. "Monday afternoon, after classes we have got Quidditch and Flying introductions!"

I almost fell out of bed. "Flying, as in on brooms, as in on rickety things that have minds of their own and can overbalance if you turn around?"

Sam laughed, "What type of broom have you been flying? Seriously Mills!"

"Well Sam the school brooms aren't exactly up to the same level of your dad's Firebolt 3000." This was Rose talking, I had no idea what a Firebolt 3000 was but hearing this Sam looked a little disappointed.

"I wish we could bring our own brooms." She sighed dreamily climbing into bed. Jessa, in the bed next to her laughed.

"You are obsessed Sammy."

"I'm not obsessive, I'm passionate, and there is a difference!"

Laughing the others turned off their lights, pulled curtains shut and crawled under the covers. They were all excited, even Rose could fly well apparently and Jessa would pick it up very quickly I was certain but as for me, I wasn't so sure. I could still remember the appalling Halloween performance back at Cackles, even if it wasn't entirely my fault I was still atrocious at flying, and I hadn't exactly been practicing. I felt Tabby crawl under the covers where he curled up at his new favorite place around my ankles. He started purring in his funny noisy humming way and I felt myself lulled to sleep.

All weekend I drove Scorpious and Albus mad with my constant questioning about Quidditch. They seemed enthusiastic about it at first, willing to explain everything to me in the tiniest detail but eventually even they got sick of it.

"Just relax Mils" Said Scorpious as we left our Transfiguration class, the last class before Flying lessons.

"They probably won't let us do much flying anyway and If you really want to practice I can talk to James, or Fred, even Roxy would help out if you were that desperate." Said Albus.

I got it that they were trying to help but I was still nervous. On our way out to the grounds we passed Nearly Headless Nick who waved us over.

"Mildred, I found something that I must show you I am honestly very surprised, you must come and have a look at this." Before he could show me or tell me whatever it was that he wanted Albus interrupted.

"So sorry Nick but we have Quidditch Intro to get to, maybe some other time." Albus took me by the arm and steered me out of the castle and into the courtyard.

"Why did you do that?" I asked as we walked across the grounds to the Quidditch Pitch.

"There's no saying no to Nick, and I didn't want you to use him as an excuse to wag, because if he asked us we would feel like we had to say yes to him. My dad missed out on his second year Halloween Feast because he agreed to go to his Deathday Party."

"A Deathday Party! Really? Wouldn't that be kind of depressing?" Laughed Scorpious.

"Scorpious, even ghosts can have a good time, have you seen the Bloody Baron chase Peeves? I swear he enjoys it!" I said.

"I dunno" said Albus. "He was looking kind of, almost sleepy today, pretty much all the ghosts were, and I haven't seen Peeves in almost two days, haven't you guys noticed?"

When I thought about it I did realize that the ghosts had been a little less active in the past couple of days, especially Peeves who normally took a lot of pleasure teasing first years to on some occasions the point of tears. Before I could agree with Albus though I was cut off as Professor Cholderton turned up, with a long line of scraggly brooms hovering behind him. Seeing those brooms sent a wave of nausea through me followed by a line of memories I had tried to forget.

_Me Hanging on for dear life as I over balance on my broom sending it into an un controllable nose dive and me over the front and left hanging with my hands. _

_Me feeling proud for dodging one wall when after turning around to wave to Maude I face the front again to see yet another wall which I was unable to dodge. _

_Then there was the incident with the garden where I….._

I was swept from my train of thought by Scorpious pulling on my sleeve.

"Mills, snap out of it, just relax, you'll be fine."

"Sure Scorpious." I managed to stutter as I followed him across the springy lawn to where Professor Cholderton had the layed ten scraggly brooms in a circle. He was standing in the middle with a much smoother, sleeker looking broom.

Professor Cholderton is young, if he introduced himself to my family as a Professor he would probably be laughed at. Before we got down to flying he very quickly introduced himself.

"So my name is Luck Cholderton, I'm twenty six years old and I am the flying master here at Hogwarts. When I was at Hogwarts I was in Hufflepuff, I wasn't a star student but I loved flying. This combined with the fact that I love kids and teaching meant it was a quick decision for me to come back to Hogwarts. This is my second year teaching and with your Headmistress permission I have made a few changes to the program this year but I'll tell you more about that later. Oh, and I'm also head of Hufflepuff." Professor Cholderton smiled and clapped his hands together. "So everyone pick a broom, any will do and I'm just going to go through all the basics with you, I know many of you would have flown before but today were just going to go through the techniques, the basics and try to bring everyone to a level footing."

We all picked a broom. My one was pretty ordinary looking. I wondered if this was the same as the brooms I had flown at Cackles, they looked pretty much the same but I hadn't been that good at broom upkeep, and looking at Professor Cholderton's broom these ones were pretty old.

He told us to put our hand above the brooms and say up, and we were to try and keep our voice emotion free as this would help the charm work. Albus said up excitedly and the broom instantly rose up to smack his hand causing him to drop it again. Scorpious smirked and Jessa couldn't help but giggle then they booth smoothly raised their brooms. Scorpious looked very casual bust Jessa squealed and Sam enthusiastically gave her a thumbs up. She already had her broom. Hesitantly I stuck my hand out.

"Up!" I tried to say it firmly and was actually very surprised when it rose smoothly from the ground. Albus looked at me and smiled.

"See Mills! So far so good, I knew you could do this!" Albus proved to be right. Professor Cholderton made us practice commanding the broom up several more times and when everyone could get it on the first shot he moved on to correcting our grips and showing us how to mount properly. I was once again surprised, there was no side saddle position used here, learning this instantly made me feel better. Gone was the risk of over balancing, straddling the broom meant weight was distributed evenly unless you intentionally sent the broom into a dive or straight up. This was Professor Cholderton's answer when I asked if we needed really good balance.

Sam and Craig managed to prove that their boasting was not just boasting, Scorpious just did everything calmly while Jessa and Albus were ecstatic for the entire time. Rose and Lizzy whispered through class, neither of them had any trouble with it and I'm happy to say when we finally got air born neither did I. We had to practice landing and taking off several times and then we did loops, figure eights and Professor Cholderton even got us playing follow the leader around the pitch.

Giggling Lizzy pulled her broom up so she was flying next to me. I was in control, I had yet to snap a broom in half and I was enjoying myself, which was something I hadn't really managed to achieve before. "I'm kind of jealous of the Hufflepuffs at the moment, how cool is Professor Cholderton! This is the best class we have had so far!" Giggling again she leant forward and took the lead of the group, Sam quickly fighting her for it.

When the class was over we all landed smoothly in the middle of the pitch and once again moved into a circle. "Gryffindors I am very impressed, each of you here is well on the way to becoming spectacular flyers, It makes my job so much easier when I have enthusiastic students who can take instructions and criticism to help them improve. Now I have a surprise for you, I told you at the start of the lesson that Professor McGonagall was letting me try some new things, well as part of these "new things" I will be running a first years only house quidditch competition. These competitions will take place on Friday nights, the first one being the Friday after the first Quidditch match of the season which as I'm sure most of you know starts next term after the Christmas Break."

Sam could barely contain herself, she looked ready to scream for joy, this was exactly what she had been talking about the other night!

"So Gryffindors, I suggest if you can to keep practicing here and at home over the Christmas Break because I can assure you, the other houses are just as excited as you are. More Information will be given out next term but for now I suggest you start practicing, participation is compulsory and you will be graded at the end of the year. So go on, class is over!" Laughing at our ecstatic faces Professor Cholderton charmed the brooms to hover themselves back into the broom shed.

Walking back up to the school everyone was talking excitedly. Even I was feeling a little excited, I was yet to actually see a Quidditch match, but I was feeling confident with my flying again and I was really looking forward to it. We walked inside the building and started the long trek back up to Gryffindor Tower, when we reached the third floor though we were forced to stop. We were waiting for the staircase to arrive, it was a pretty good one to get, one of the few that followed a regular cycle. It stopped here every hour for fifty minutes. The other ten it lowered itself to get to the second floor it was really one of the more useful stair cases. Today though it just wouldn't arrive and we were waiting there for nearly twenty minutes before we realized something must be wrong.

"Where's the staircase?" Complained Albus. "I want to have a shower before dinner."

"It'll be here soon, the stairs can be spontaneous sometimes." Said Rose.

"Well I'm not waiting, I'm taking the winding stair on the second floor." That was Craig and true to his word he went down the way he had came. The rest of us kept waiting and after a while were joined by a couple of other people trying to get up to the Tower. The Stairs still didn't turn up. Then, five minutes after leaving Craig came back.

"The Winding Stair isn't moving either, it doesn't even reach the floor, it stopped at least a meter above it and no one can reach it. I checked the other stairs to, even the ones that move in the dungeons, and none of them move, some of them have even stopped halfway through moving."

"How does that work?" Asked Albus.

"This means we have to take the long way round, down, then up, then down again before we can go up to reach the tower." Complained one of the older Gryffindor students who were waiting with us.

I'm not sure if many of us first years understood this. Most of us were just grateful for remembering one way to get around.

"Why don't you lead the way?" Scorpious said to him.

It took us nearly half an hour to find our way back up to Gryffindor Tower, if it hadn't been for the third years that had turned up then we would have been very lost. We were feeling pretty tired when we reached the Common Room. The Quidditch and the very long walk home did not help.

"I am stuffed!" Said Albus as he sunk into the last remaining arm-chair by the fire. "They better fix those stairs quickly, we have to walk down for dinner in an hour! I am not made for this!"

We did walk down for dinner, and then back up again. The stairs hadn't been fixed and no one had any idea how or why they had stopped moving. McGonagall just told us to be patient and to take it as an opportunity to explore the castle.

It wasn't until later that night that I realized I had completely forgotten to go and see Nick about what he had wanted to show me. In fact, I hadn't seen Nick all night, and he was always floating around the Gryffindor common room.

"Hey" I said to the girls, we were all in bed but I could hear whispering from Rose's bed so I knew someone was awake. I tiptoed over to Roses bed and pushed open the curtains. Jessa was sitting on the end of the bed and the pair were whispering quietly. Rose was holding what looked like a fire kept in a sealed glass jar. Seeing me look at it she smiled.

"My mother charmed it for me, it'll last forever while the lid is sealed. What did you want?"

"Did you guys see Nick tonight?" Jessa and Rose looked at each other. "It's just that he said he wanted to show me something and I haven't seen him all night which is a little odd."

"We were literally just talking about that." Whispered Jessa.

"We haven't seen him since the start of the Quidditch lesson." Said Rose. "No one has seen any of the ghosts, they weren't even at dinner tonight. We thought it was weird as well."

"Even Peeves has been quiet!" whispered Jessa. "Things are definitely getting weird. First the stairs and now this! What's going to happen next?" Hearing Sam and Lizzy stir from the other side of the room I quietly tip-toed back to my own bed. As Tabby curled up around my feet all I could think about was how right they were. Things were getting a little weird at Hogwarts.

**AUTHORS NOTE: **_Thank you so much for taking the time to read chapter six. I will try to get back into an updating pattern but in the meantime please, please review, tell me what you thought and what you thinks going to happen! Reviews literally make my day!_

_=D Kellsabelle._


	7. Christmas

_**Authors Note:**__ So my updating skills have been a little lax, I keep trying to get into a pattern but then life gets in the way! I am trying, very sorry to anyone who has been waiting to read and grateful to anyone who is currently reading! Just pretty please, with cherries, peppermint and an extra special cream topped banana split to please, please review!_

**CHAPTER SEVEN:** Christmas

It had been several weeks now since the staircases had stopped working and the ghosts had disappeared. These problems still hadn't been fixed and it was causing several problems. All History of Magic classes had been cancelled because they couldn't find a teacher to replace Professor Binns. This wasn't much of an issue for us but a lot of the older students were worried about all the work they would be missing for their exams later in the year. Despite the absence of History of Magic from our timetables things travelled pretty smoothly for the rest of the term. It was strange without the ghosts. I never thought I would say this but I missed having the transparent people floating around the castle popping up everywhere and joining us for feasts and meals in the Grand Hall and glaring at the other houses ghosts across hallways when points were given or taken. I couldn't say I missed Peeves that much but in a way it felt like the castle was empty without him. The day after Halloween I had found Filch wandering around the third floor with the aging Mrs Norris following behind him simply mumbling:

"He's gone, what am I going to do now? He's gone, gone." Then he had simply turned on his heels now mumbling: "Oh it's just a trick, one big trick, he'll be back he always is , he can't be gone!"

This had been quite enough for me and I had very quickly decided that I didn't want to listen to the rest of that particular rant. I had quickly left down the same corridor I had came and quickly taking one of the many paths I had learned to memorize the many routes would take me back to Gryffindor Tower. That was one of the best advantages from the little situation they were having at Hogwarts. This year's first years managed to learn their way around the castle faster than any year before them.

Now though it was time for us to go home for Christmas. Everyone was going home pretty much. Lizzy and Michael were going back to South Africa for the holidays and Lizzy had been so excited all week. Rose and Albus were spending the holidays together they were having a massive family Christmas, I had slowly been meeting all of their very large extended family who managed to spread themselves out through every year from first to seventh. Jessa couldn't wait to tell her parents everything about the school and all Sam could talk about was being able to fly on her broom again. Everybody was looking forward to Christmas.

We had all left the common room early on the day we were catching the train back to platform nine and three quarters, because Bryony was in Paris I'd had to write home so someone knew to pick me up. I had a sinking feeling it would be Cherise or mum because dad usually had to stay back at his school for a couple of days before he could come home. I was looking forward to seeing dad. Trying not to think about the inevitable awkwardness I turned to Scorpious who was sitting next to me.

"So Scorp, any big plans for the holidays?"

Scorpious grimaced. "I'm not sure if I'll make it to Christmas. I haven't really had a proper conversation with my parents since ugh, my surprising, sorting. They still think I should be in Slytherin." He sighed running his hands through his platinum hair.

"Well I think you got put in the right house." Scorpious raised an eyebrow at me. "Remember when I ran into you at the apothecary? When I fell over the first thing you did was help me up, that wasn't very Slytheriny of you, it was almost kind of Hufflepuffy."

Scorpious glared at me. "Hufflepuffy? Really Mills, I'm not sure if I should be offended or not."

I grinned. "Definitely not offended, have you met Eloise Finnegan and Michael Thomas? I swear they are some of the nicest people I have ever met."

At this very second the said pair, Eloise and Michael happened to walk past the Gryffindor table. They grinned and took a seat either side of us.

"Thanks Mills, you're not too bad yourself." Michael grinned and Eloise just laughed. They were kind of a funny pair, Eloise with her strange french-english accent and Michael with the South African accent I could never recognize for the first half of the term.

"Scorpious." Said Michael "If you're worried about not being in the right house I'd buy them a big present and just complain about it a whole lot. According to mum dad went into shock for about a week when he heard me and Lizzy were in different houses. He couldn't even go to work." Eloise nodded.

"My dad was in Gryffindor, he had similar problems when he heard I wasn't."

I was listening but Scorpious had stopped after Michael had finished. He was now staring across to the other side of the room looking mortified.

"Scorp?" I asked. "You okay?"

Suddenly he stood up and ran from the Great Hall. "Scorpious! What are you doing?" I yelled after him. "We're meant to be going to Hogsmeade." I paused and looked at the clock above the fireplace. "NOW!" Leaving my trunk abandoned next to his I ran after him taking thirty second to tell Michael and Eloise not to let the train go without us.

Scorpious was a faster runner then I was and I didn't catch him until we were about a corridor away from the Fat Lady's Portrait.

"Scorpious! What are you running for?" He didn't stop running but did take a second to yell over his shoulder.

"I did get my parents a massive present, mail ordered it from London and everything, and I forgot to pack it, it's in my room, that's why I need to go back to the tower!"

We turned the last corner and came to a skidding halt in front of the entrance to Gryffindor Tower and somehow I didn't think we'd be getting in. The Fat Lady was gone, missing, disappeared, vanished.

"No, No, NO!" Scorpious was freaking out. I couldn't help but wonder what it was he had bought that could be so important. He ran down the corridor yelling at the other portraits where she was but they either didn't answer or simply weren't there. Every portrait in the corridor was empty or not moving. There were figures frozen halfway through leaving a portrait.

"What's going on? Mildred, where is the Fat Lady?"

I couldn't answer the question and we were already running very late. Pulling Scorpious away by his sleeve we hurried down the corridor and arrived breathless at Hogsmeade station. Hagrid grinned when he saw us.

"Eloise and Michael turned up a while ago, managed to levitate your trunks all the way down from the castle, shocked a few Ravenclaws but Professor Cholderton was stoked, Personally I never thought of Hufflepuffs as being dumb, they just have a bit of a bad reputation you know?"

"Not that this isn't great Hagrid but the train is leaving and I was planning on spending Christmas at home."I waved goodbye and pushed Scorpious onto the train. He still hadn't said anything; I could only wonder what it was that could be so important.

The ride back to platform nine and three quarters passed much quicker then that first trip to Hogsmeade had. When Scorpious and I had finally managed to find two empty seats we were exhausted, the run from the castle was tiring enough but finding two empty seats when practically the entire school was on the train was near impossible. We eventually managed to find two seats in a compartment with Eloise, Michael and Lizzy. The three were talking nonstop about their Christmas plans and the enthusiasm was infectious. Albus was floating around everywhere from compartment to compartment always reporting back on what was going on in the other ones. Sometimes he even brought people back with him. Holly and Tiffany came to say hi and he even properly introduced us to the rest of the Hufflepuff guys, Lucas, Corey, Charlie and Benjamin. They didn't stay long and really just wanted to talk to Michael but it was pretty cool to meet them.

Eventually we pulled up at the station and we all attempted to pull our own trunks off the train. As we were getting off the train I was almost knocked to the ground as Adrianna and Belinda rushed past me with their luggage levitating behind them. Rose who had been walking with me glared at them and helped me up.

"Trust those Goyle twins to use their house elves as soon as they get off the train. You should have heard them on the train Mills, it was horrible." Rose pulled her hair back and made a face. "I cannot believe that father is making us spend Christmas at the house in Barcelona, The Madrid house has just been re-done and mother promised that we could spend Christmas there."

I couldn't help but laugh. "They have two houses in Spain! I'd love just to get into the country, they're crazy to complain."

Rose sighed in agreement."They do however have good ideas about the trunk carrying problem, our last shot at magic for the hols, what do you think?"

Without waiting for an answer she charmed her things to levitate and pulling my wand from my sleeve I did the same. We were on the platform now and now waving goodbye to me I watched Rose walk away towards a very large congregation of people with more than a few having her own fiery hair colour. I had already said goodbye to Albus as he was tackled off the train by his brother. Lizzy, Michael and Eloise had all left together mumbling something along the lines of France, South Africa and time zones, not quite sure what that conversation was about. So it was just me and Scorpious left on the platform. I saw Scorpious parents and I didn't want to say goodbye.

Funnily enough Scorpious seemed to have similar ideas.

"Mildred, they're judging me already, I can see it. This entire holiday is going to be one big lecture on how I disappointed them! Why was I put in Gryffindor again? We're supposed to be brave right? Well I don't feel very brave at the moment." He smiled and waved at his parents. As they came over he nervously hugged his mother and I could swear I heard him mumble something along the lines of Why did I forget the Christmas present?

Waving goodbye to Scorpious as he was lead away by his parents I turned around to see my mother and Cherise standing behind me.

"Hi mum." I said. "I missed you." There was this horrible, awkward silence, I could feel my mother's eyes on me but I just couldn't make eye contact. Instead I concentrated on Tabbys cat carrier by my feet. "Did Bryony tell you how to get onto the platform?"

"Yes, she seemed heartbroken she couldn't pick you up. Cherise was having placement interviews in London though, so I was here." I bit my lip and tried to think of something to say. Suddenly my mum smiled. "Your father will be so pleased to see you again, he missed you." She leant forward and hugged me. Everything was going to be okay, I looked at her face and I just had a feeling that things were going to all right.

Mum and Cherise had driven to London, so I carried my trunk and Tabby's Carrier down to the same Ford Falcon we had always driven. Cherise ignored me for the most of the trip but a couple of times I caught her looking at me through the rear view mirror. It took several hours to get home but I couldn't help but sigh when we drove up to my house. Terracotta colored bricks, white balconies, the same familiar chimneys. There was no snow yet but as I got out the car I could see the mist coming off my breath and I knew there would be soon. It felt good to be home.

It was already dark and the lights were on, I could hear Tayla and William yelling. They were twins, went to different schools and only saw each other during holidays, which opening the door I decided was a good thing. They were yelling and as annoying as it was I couldn't help but smile.

"Hey guys!" I say, dropping my bags by the door, bending over to let Tabby out of his carrier.

"Mils!"

"You're back!"

"You're still alive!"

"You were meant to come home right?"

"Yeah, they didn't send you away did they?"

I took a step backwards from the onslaught. They seemed genuinely happy to see me. "They did send us home, but only for Christmas, so relax, I won't be going back to Cackles and I won't stop being a witch."

Tayla smiled. "Great, I like you and all, but I really didn't want you at my school." I ignored the backhand comment and walked into the kitchen. Dad was sitting at the table, grading papers in front of him. I smiled and hugged him from behind.

"Mildred! You're back! You're alive!" He stood up, turning around and returning the hug. His remark made me smile, the twins were very much more dad then mum. "Did you learn things?"

I smiled. "Yes!"

"You look happy Mills."

"I am happy dad, that place was incredible, the people were amazing, I can fly a broomstick now!"

This started a topic I was more than happy to talk about for the rest f the holidays. In between the conversation I watched the first snow fall, decorated the house from top to tail with tinsel and baubles, I had even wrapped a circle of tinsel around Tabby's neck. Red and Gold looked sweet against his fluffy grey fur, and my roommates would have been proud too! Being back near the ocean again made me feel complete in a way, it was freezing, and no seaside holiday but the sand and the waves were there. It was beautiful. I was fairly sure that I was driving my family crazy with my constant chatter but to be fair they were driving me crazy as well. Tayla and William were fighting as usual, over everything as usual. Cherise was complaining about having to spend Christmas here, she unimaginably hates snow. Dad was trying to grade pre Christmas exams before Christmas so his students could actually enjoy it. Mum though was in a good mood for once. The re-write for her latest book had been accepted so she was very happy. She was also very eager to hear about Hogwarts, I think this was partially just so she could know it was a 'good school', with 'good methods' but it was great at the same time. Christmas sped up on us quickly, there were presents stacked under the tree and packets of chocolate ripple biscuits stacked away just waiting to be turned into my specialty chocolate ripple cake.

On Christmas Eve mum gathered us all into the good dining room. The Table was stacked with food, and even Cherise seemed eager to start. It was at the end of the meal, when we were sitting around the table staring at the licked clean plates waiting for anyone but us to start the dishes that I heard it.

_Tap Tap Tap. _

The tapping got consistently louder until I just couldn't ignore it. I stood up and opened the curtains in the dining room.

Cerise glared at me."Mills, what are you doing? It's freezing outside…. Oh my god! What is that thing! Why are you letting it inside? Mildred!"

"Cherise be quiet!" I pushed the window open and held my arm out for the owl to hop on.

"Mildred? What are you doing sweetie." Mum was nervously moving to the otherside of the room.

The owl stuck it's leg out and I quickly untied the small package attached to its leg.

"They use owls to send mail, remember my first letter?"

"That is so cool!" Tayla leaned forward to stroke the owl. "Who's your package from?"

I read the curvy handwriting on the front of it and knew instantly. "Scorpious, so that means this is Eos." Eos chirruped hearing her name and flew out the window". I shut the window and pulled the curtains closed again. Cherise seemed to have regained control of her breathing but she was still clutching the side of the table. Mumbling something incoherent she quickly left the room.

"That is so cool!" Said Will, "Why don't we use owls?"

"Our mails never late is it? Go on Mills, open it."

I smiled at my dad. The package had a letter from Scorpious in it and a small package wrapped in Christmas paper. He didn't have much to say in the letter, it sounds like my Christmas was better than his. He ended it on a sad note of _"At least I remembered your Christmas present, I don't know what would be more offensive to my parents, giving them nothing or buying something cheap to make up for it" _His present was a Honeydukes hamper that was full of chocolate, peppermint imps, flavor changing candy canes and much more. He must have had someone charm it to enlarge to its proper size when I opened it. All day Christmas I had owls arriving at the windows, even Cherise got used to it after a while. Albus sent me a box full of Canary Creams and Extendable Ears from his Uncles Joke Shop. I got postcards from Eloise, Lizzy and Michael. The Moving photos kept switching from scenes in London, to Paris and then to a long house with a wide veranda I guessed was Lizzy and Michaels home in South Africa. It turned out that their families were really close, despite living on different sides of the world.

The photos of Paris made me start thinking of Bryony again. She had been sending me letters and I'd called her on her mobile once but it was on her Boxing Day show so she was in no state to talk. I'd ordered her one of the self measuring, measuring tapes like the one that Mr. Ollivander had used. I didn't know when I'd get a chance to give it to her but hopefully I could use one of the school's owls and send it to her. The holidays breezed past and before I knew it mum was dropping me off at the station. Dad had decided to come as well this time to see where the platform was. Dad seemed ecstatic the entire morning.

"This is incredible! Incredible! How did you and Bryony figure this out?"

"We had a little help."

"Did I hear someone say my name?"

"Bryony!" It was Bryony, she was standing just inside the barrier, classy black French hair do, purple stocking, red stilettos, green dress and homemade blue coat and all!

"How are you here? I thought I wasn't going to see you until Easter!"

"I caught the train from Paris, just for the day, I had to see you!" I couldn't help but scream and hug her. Once I was done she pulled out and smiled at mum and dad. "Hi guys, I'm just here to give Mills her Very French Christmas Present.

"I thought you didn't get me anything!"

Bryony smiled secretly and pulled out a small box wrapped with a very impressive rainbow colored ribbon. "I promised didn't I? So go on! Open it!"

I pulled the ribbon off, stuffing it into the pocket of my jeans and took the lid of the box. Inside was the most beautiful piece of jewelry I have ever seen. It was a silver chain but it was the pendant that made me gasp. It was a simple but beautiful, iridescent and continually colour changing swirl. The colours seemed to move along the swirl.

"I chipped a little bit of the end of your icicle, you left it at my apartment and when Francois was over, you know, he's the jeweler who got me a place in Christmas Show, well he said he could turn it into something amazing, he wanted all of it but I thought you might like the rest of it." She pulled the rest of the icicle out of her pocket. There was another length of the rainbow ribbon tied around it.

"Bryony this is amazing! Thank you, thank you so much!" I pulled it out of the box. There was a little silver square hanging on the chain as well. It was engraved with a message.

"_Happy Christmas Mildred, this is so you can always remember how much of a witch you really are. You're amazing. Love Bryony"_

I couldn't help it, the tears started coming. Through my teary eyes I could see dad grinning and mum sniffle like she does when she tries not to cry,. "I got you a present to." I sniffled a bit and pulled Bryony's box out of my pocket, I guess I had held on to a shred of hope that I might see her.

Bryony opened it and gave a squeak of excitement.

"Mills this is amazing! I couldn't help but stare when the man in the wand shop was using his, this is perfect! Thank you!" She hugged me again and the tears came once more. This time though they were happier, I was smiling from ear to ear and I was sure my face had gone red. I couldn't help but laugh.

"Thank you so much Bryony!" I heard the train whistle blow. "I have to go now, thank you so much!" I hugged her one last time and then moved on to mum and dad. "Thankyou so much for letting me come here guys, I love you!" I hugged them both and my mum smiled.

"I only wanted you to be happy, and now I think I can see how much happier this place has made you." She hugged me tight, squeezing the air out of me.

"Knock them dead kiddo, show them what real witch can do!" Dad kissed my forehead, wiped the tears from my face and pushed my things into my hand. I waved goodbye as I got onto the train with my other hand clutching my beautiful present. When they were gone from view I sniffed the last of my tears away, precariously picked up my trunk and Tabby's cat carrier and shuffled down the train to look for Albus and Scorpious.

**AUTHORS NOTE: **I really like the ending of this chapter, I know it's been forever but hopefully this chapter makes up for it. Things are going to get interesting in the next couple of chapters. This will not just be a "Happy year at school fic" something is going to happen! I'm slowly chipping away at that, quickly chipping away if life doesn't get in the way but for now you can make my day and please review! It will honestly make all my Christmas's come at once!

_=D Kellsabelle._


	8. History of Magic

**AUTHORS NOTE: **It's been a long time coming but here it is, finally another chapter. It's longer than usual but I like it and hopefully so will some people who will stick around to review! It also at the end changes perspective to Belinda Goyle just for a little while. I actually like the two Porcelain Twins.

_**The Other Type of Magic**_

_**A Harry Potter/Worst Witch crossover**_

_**CHAPTER EIGHT: History of Magic**_

Since the new term had started my friends and I slipped back into Hogwarts like a hand into an old glove, we might have been gone for a while but the castle welcomed us back with open arms. The classes were getting more exciting everyday and we were becoming closer with every group breakfast and detention. Albus had managed to get the most of these out of all the first years, which James told me he was very proud of. Detention with Albus wasn't exactly boring, he didn't manage to get phased by anything, he seems invincible to me and Jessa said he must have had Botox to keep that smile on his face for as long as he had. The only people who looked unhappy to be back were the Porcelain Twins Adrianna and Belinda. They snapped at everybody and were sullen in class. I didn't know what their problem was but one day Rose seemed to have a break through.

"I think they're sad." She said. This was during our first lunch for the new term, we had just finished an amazing defense class with the Slytherins that everyone but the Twins had enjoyed. The entire time they had been rude and snarky, jumping down the throats of anyone who spoke to them.

"What would they have anything to be sad about?" I asked. After all they were wealthy, gorgeous and apparently had two houses in Spain! I would be ecstatic if that was me.

Rose sighed. "Just look at them, when their not talking to people and it's just them, they look like someone has stuck their heads in a bucket of water. They only talk to each other and I noticed that Adrianna in particular gets this funny cloudy look on her face whenever she's not doing anything, like she's off in another world. Then someone will talk to her and she's suddenly back, looking confused for a second and then angry and snarky. They don't want to be here Mildred and I don't think they can help it. They're miserable!"

I stretched my neck to look over at the Slytherin table and sure enough the twins were sitting next to each other, not talking to anyone and looking thoroughly dejected. Just like Rose had said Adrianna was gazing off above the enchanted ceiling but not really seeing it. Rose and I watched as one of the other Slytherin first years tried to talk to them, the far off look was gone instantly and replaced by a hard and stony exterior that was pure conversation repellant. A part of me knew that Rose was right but I just couldn't believe it.

"They're just snobs Rose, they think their better then all of us, that's why they're so snotty all the time. If they didn't want to be here then they wouldn't be, simple as that."

Rose didn't say anything but I could tell she was still thinking about it. I just didn't believe it. I loved Hogwarts, every nook and cranny was simply superb and there was nothing that would ever make me want to leave.

Hogwarts had whisked us all away from our families with promises of the marvelous, mind blowing and above all the magical. This term however, the magical seemed to be missing from some parts of the castle. The portraits were still frozen, the stairs were still not working and all of the ghosts were missing. Filch was terrorizing anyone who crossed him and I strongly believe that he was going through Peeves withdrawal. It was like his entire purpose in life was gone, what honestly was he supposed to do now? Gryffindor Tower was still sealed behind the empty Fat Lady's Portrait and we had all been using disused classrooms in the west tower for dormitories. They were nowhere near as nice as our tower and I was missing my bed. Due to the malfunctioning staircases we had to take some extremely odd paths to get to our classes, the West Tower in particular was very isolated and it took us nearly half an hour to walk from there to the Great Hall. Leaving a book or assignment behind before a class was not an option. It was exhausting the amount of running around we had to do!

The other houses were having problems too. The Slytherins could still get into their common room because the door had frozen while it was half open but the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws were just as isolated as we were. The entire situation was leaving everyone feeling confused and unhappy. This combined with the exhaustion of the long treks we were doing up to four times a day had simply drained all of us. There was nothing we could do and a lot of us were beginning to worry. The older students were having loud arguments at dinner and teachers could be seen talking in hushed tones in empty corridors when they thought no one was watching. It was still Hogwarts though, and despite all the troubles there was still no where I would rather be.

People can adapt to anything so we were soon used to the long confusing walks and sleeping in the old West Tower. It also meant that when I came down to breakfast one Wednesday morning to find Scorpius and Rose arguing about Quidditch and Albus laying with his head on the bench and the rest of him slumped in the walkway I didn't bat an eyelid. I jumped over Albus's long gangly legs and took a seat next to Rose. I buttered my toast and moved the juice jug out of the way when the argument between Rose and Scorpius got to the point where they were using vivid hand gestures. It was a relatively normal morning.

"All I'm saying Rose, is that no matter what you say the Cannons will always remain the worst team in the league."

"Worst team in the league! Are you serious? They're one off being in the top eight! They haven't been that high on the ladder in years and they made the jump in less than one season too, no team has ever done that, ever, ever, ever! The Tornados are just showy little excuse for a team and they have no real substance."

We had really gotten used to Rose this term, and she and Scorpious had this morning found something else that they disliked about each other. You could never call what they had a friendship; it was more like an agreement to disagree, at everything they could possibly have an opinion on. Their argument was interrupted though by the arrival of a tall red haired third year who was grinning from ear to ear.

"I'm sorry Scorpius, but Rosie dear has a point, the Tornados might consistently beat the Cannons in every match they've played against each other for the past 350 years but the Tornados are the favored team, the entire competition is rigged."

By the time James had finished his speech and sat across from me at the table both Rose and Scorpius were giving him death glares. He simply grinned even wider, waved his wand to lift his little brother up onto the bench and out of the walkway where he had already caused one twisted ankle this morning and poured himself a pumpkin juice.

"If that's all you have to say Jamsie then I'll just go shall I? Beside's I have an essay I need to reference check in the library." Rose stood up to leave and James put a hand to his heart.

"Rose! Family is more important than essays! Come and have breakfast with your favorite cousin!"

"You're not my favorite cousin James, and you of all people should know how Cresswell is with references."

She stuck her tongue out at her older cousin and with a swish of her hair was walking quickly out of the Great Hall. Scorpius was looking depressed and began to push his bacon around with his fork. He was a sore loser, and thanks to the interruption from James he knew that he had lost that particular argument. Albus had woken up by this time and gave Scorpius a pat on the back.

"Don't worry Scorp, by the time fourth period is over you two would have two more fights, you can win back the points there easy."

"You guys are keeping points now? That's insane."

"Maybe to you Mildred but I was winning, I've been winning all week, last week was a disaster but this week I really thought I'd made a comeback and maybe I could get the points up. Rose just got an extra point and now we're level. All of my hard work was for nothing!"

"Mhm." Said James swallowing a mouthful of toast. "I've been having the same problem with her for eleven years, of course I had a two year head start but she's Rose! She always catches up." He sighed dejectedly and my two friends nodded in sympathy.

Suddenly Scorpius pushed his plate away. "Well I'm going; I'll see you two in class." He wiped his mouth on his sleeved and stood up, swinging his bag over his shoulder.

I starred up at him confused. "Scorpius what are you doing? We have History of Magic next period, and since Binns is missing that means we don't have class."

"Well we do now Mills, didn't you see the sign in the hallway? They found him a replacement which means we finally get a lesson!"

Albus banged his head on the table knocking over the jug of juice I had successfully saved from Rose and Scorpius. How annoying. "I hate History of Magic, this completely ruined my day."

"I'd have thought falling asleep in the hallway would have done that little bro. The new teacher is actually pretty good, she doesn't talk in a monotone the entire time."

"That makes me feel so much better James!"

"Get over it Al, the only reason you don't like History is because all three of your names come up several times a lecture. I can't wait!" Said Scorpious while literally bouncing on the balls of his feet. History Of Magic was his favorite class after Astronomy which was unusual because not many people ever liked either of those subjects. I sighed in annoyance at Scorpius and swallowed my last mouthful of juice; personally I was looking forward to Potions with Professor Cresswell which we'd have after History of Magic. All of those muck ups I had done at Cackles must have taught me something because I was actually good at Potions and it's easier to enjoy something when you're good at it.

"Oh no!" I said. Suddenly I had a sickening feeling in my stomach and it was not the enjoyable butterfly kind. It was the 'How could I make that mistake?' type of sickening feeling.

"I Know Mils isn't it terrible! History, on Wednesday and it's raining too!" Albus cried looking up to the ceiling where it was pouring down in a very foreboding way.

I groaned into my hands "No Albus, we have Potions after History remember? I was meant to go and get my essay after breakfast, the one Rose went to reference check, if we have class now then I'm not going to have any time to get it, this sucks! Cresswell will give me a Saturday detention and I'll miss the first Quidditch game of the season!"

This was awful! I had really been looking forward to the game, Professor Cholderton had been talking about it since the start of term and had even started helping us train for the first year competition. I couldn't believe I was going to miss it!

"If it's the game you're worried about then I'll go and get it for you Mils." James was now trying to sound sincere but it was ruined by the way he was shoveling food into his mouth.

"Really?" I must have looked shocked because James laughed at me, which while he had a mouth full of bacon was not a very pleasant sight.

"Yeah sure, I have Herbology this morning and the Greenhouse's are right next to the West Tower so I'll just wag the end of it, fly to the West Tower, climb in a window and pick it up for you. I'll make sure you have it before the end of the period so you can still hand it in on time and you won't miss the deadline and therefore the quidditch game. Which by the way I will be the star of, just giving you a heads-up."

"James that's fantastic, thank you, thank you so much!"

"It's nothing, I hate Herbology anyway and it'll be good practice for the game on Saturday, Dominique would be proud." He grinned again. "I'll see you guys later, don't expect me to do this every day, I usually try to avoid spending time with my nerdy brother and his friends." He punched Albus on the shoulder and then left the Great Hall with his friends.

Scorpius was by this time making vivid 'Let's Go!' Hand gestures and was desperate to leave. "Mildred, are you ready? Crisis was averted let's go!"

"I'm coming Scorp, and Albus is coming too."

Albus sighed but he put a smile on his face for the sake of his friend and his happy reputation and so the three of us left for our First History of Magic class for the term.

* * *

It was well known among all the year levels that History of Magic had always been boring while Professor Binn's had been the instructor. In other classes they were either not boring in the first place or there was something to distract you if they ever were. From the Defense room you could see the Quidditch Pitch where there was always something going on there and there was plenty of crazy things in the Greenhouse's to keep you occupied if all you were doing in Herbology was removing the seeds from Enchanted Capsicums; one of the dullest activities in the magical world. The History of Magic classroom had none of these advantages. It was on the third floor and the three windows along the back wall all overlooked the east court yard, which was only ever used by teachers giving stone maintenance detentions. So basically there was nothing interesting that ever happened in that particular classroom on the third floor.

When we reached the classroom that morning for the first time all term my two friends were giving off two very different attitudes. Albus was dragging his feet and finding a reason to inspect every frozen portrait and suit of armor while Scorpius was simply brimming with excitement and had walked into three people while we walked to the third floor. We had History of Magic with the Ravenclaws so while we waited for the professor I had a chance to catch up with Tiffany and Holly. I am so glad we have History of Magic with the Ravenclaws and not the Slytherins, I don't think I could have handled the Twins pessimistic attitude in this class and potions next period.

"Milly! How was your Christmas?" Tiffany smiled and hugged me her face was glowing with the excitement mirrored in her eyes. She was another of the rare few who liked History of Magic. She and Scorpius usually sat up the front together in this lesson.

Holly grinned and hugged me as well. We were standing at the back of the line of students waiting to get into the classroom so we didn't see the Professor until we were inside. Tiffany squeezed away from us to sit up the front with Scorpius and Rose, who sat in the front of every class out of habit. I ended up in the middle row next to Holly and Albus while the fifteen remaining members of the class spread themselves out. Alice poked me on the shoulders and smiled as she took a seat behind me. When I turned back to face the front of the class I saw that the Professor was a middle aged looking woman with short caramel colored curly hair and eyes that even from the middle row I could tell were a strange type of misty grey. She stood at the front of the class, not smiling and simply surveyed us, gradually what little whispers and giggles there were faded away into nothingness and the classroom was silent. When and only when this had happened did the Professor open her mouth.

"Hello Class, my name is Professor Ramsie, and while Professor Binns in absent from the school I'll be taking all of the History of Magic classes, the level of noise you can hear n this classroom at the moment, is the level of noise that will constantly be heard in this classroom. Understood?"

When the class had silently shown that they did indeed understand Professor Ramsie continued talking.

"There will be class discussions but I will always be the one to initiate them. I do however want you to ask questions, every one of you should have questions to ask during all of the classes you have with me. If you follow my rules, then you will learn something. That I can guarantee. Now who can tell me what Professor Binns had been teaching you before he, went away so to speak."

Rose Weasley raised her hand in the front row at the same time as Scorpius did and as Professor Ramsie indicated she should answer I knew just by looking into the back of his head that he was thinking about his points tally.

"Yes Miss?"

"Rose Weasley Professor."

"Yes thank you Rose, what was it you had been learning?"

"We had just begun studying the Goblin Revolutions and their implications on society and how they…"

"Yes thank you Miss Weasley, while I find all of that fascinating I take it by the level of enthusiasm I can see on your faces that you could probably wait before resuming that unit of topic."

I could see that Scorpius was sniggering at Rose being cut off like that. She hated being interrupted. Professor Ramsie obviously didn't notice the sullen express that everybody in the class knew she would have on her face and she just continued talking.

"This is a History of Magic class, how about we look at the history of magic itself then? What do you know about that? Where does our magic actually come from?" She looked around at the class, she was leaning on the front of her desk waiting for us to speak, this time however neither Scorpius or Rose raised their hand to speak, the question hung in the air unanswered.

"The answer is that quite simply nobody knows, there have always been people with magic but no one knows why. Another question for you, when did we start using wands? There was a time when man did not know how to use any simple tools so how is it possible that those early humans, those witches and wizards, could master the complicated wand movements, let alone the language for the incantations? Everything about what you are taught here in this castle is from the present, with the exception of perhaps Divination which obviously looks to the future, Astronomy or Care of Magical Creatures everything is new. It is all modern and current. It is the way things are. In this class though, this is History! This is looking back at what was, and trying to understand how it became the present. That's what I will teach you here. So, get out your things, take your own notes, do not write everything I say please try to summarize, it helps you to remember."

The classroom was suddenly full of those quiet murmurings again as parchment and quills were pulled out or bags.

"She's something different isn't she Mills." Holly whispered to me with a grin as we got our things out. I nodded back with a smile and pulled my hair back over my shoulders. Professor Ramsie was talking again, and the way she talked somehow managed to keep the room silent, but not the sleepy, melancholy filled silence that usually filled this classroom while it had been Binns.

"There has always been magic in this world, and in our societies, in communities all over the world. It has only been in recent times however that the magical community has cut itself off so extremely from the rest of the world. When the Americas were discovered and again when Australia, and the far corners of the world was reached so called barbaric peoples were discovered. There was magic in these communities, they had their leaders, their spiritual men and women. The magic was old and rudimentary but it was magic in its simplest essence.

The reason it was so simple and rudimentary was because they didn't use wands. What wands allow us to do is basically channel the magic that is in all of us. The magic is a part of us and imbedded into every inch of our being and what our wands simply do is let us let it out. Wands give us control and they allow us to manipulate it.

When the first wand was created it was an unheard of thing, magic had previously been rare and uncommon but using a wand meant that people who could have never become a witch or wizard could because they were now able to get the magic that was hidden deep inside them out. The man who created the first wand is an unknown. Nobody knows when the date was, and no one anywhere could possibly re-collect his name, they just know that it happened."

"How can they possibly know that?" Yelled Albus suddenly.

Professor Ramsie raised an eyebrow at him "Well Mr.…?"

"Potter, Albus." He mumbled going slightly red. Next to me Holly was struggling to keep back her giggles at the situation.

"Well Mr. Potter you have a wand don't you? Obviously this event must have happened because if it hadn't then you wouldn't have one."

"No I guess not." He mumbled and sunk down lower into his seat, avoiding the piercing gaze that Professor Ramsie was giving him.

"A lot of History is using your common sense to interpret the events that happened, and if we're done with the unnecessary questions for the time being then I will continue.

There is documentation of these events because not everyone in our magical community accepted this new development. There was a small group who refused to embrace the wands and everything that they enabled us to do, and all of the new abilities that they gave us. The arguments about this and whether they should use them continued for years until eventually; they cut themselves off from each other. Those who embraced the wands created our society and in the years to come would create the Statute of Secrecy in 1962 protecting both the muggles from us and us from the muggles. Those who didn't, we can never really know, the Declaration of Separation in 400 BC meant they were now a separate society in every way. The two groups were no longer involved with each other and they had no reason to be. Over the years there have been recordings of brief meetings which in the early years had a tendency to be violent. It was these events that were recorded and it is from them that we get most of our historical understanding of these events. "

Professor Ramsie spoke more, going into detail about the later meetings and the people who had been there to record them but I just couldn't think. These other people who had decided not to use the wands and who had cut themselves off from those who did, it was Cackles. It was Cackles magic!

As she spoke about the type of magic they had been able to do without the wands I just had a feeling in my stomach and I knew it, I just knew. This was why my parents hadn't known about Hogwarts because we were the descendants of those people. The one's who hadn't tried what Professor Ramsie was calling the New Magic. They had stuck to Old Magic and the old ways and had closed themselves off from all of this.

"Professor?" Hesitantly I put my hand up and interrupted the Professor as she started explaining further how these two communities so effectively separated themselves from each other.

"Yes Miss?"

"Hubble, It's Mildred Hubble. I was wondering if we could learn this wandless magic or if you can only do one of the two?"

"An excellent question Miss Hubble, we can learn wandless magic, in your later years you may have the opportunity to do so but it is exceptionally difficult. Very few witches or wizards are able to master it and for many it is because they don't have the capacity to do so, they have become accustomed to using their wand to channel the magic and it's rare to find someone powerful enough to break past the barriers they have sub consciously put in place for themselves."

"What about one of them, they are still out their right? Could any of them ever be accepted into Hogwarts?"

"Another interesting question Miss Hubble, it is difficult to say if they could or couldn't but judging how difficult it is for some of us to re adjust to using the type of magic that our ancestors long ago abandoned then we can assume that it would be equally difficult for them to adjust to using a wand. Then again it might be easy for them because that's what wands are designed to do. They are designed to make it easier for us to access, use and control our magic. It's a hard question to answer because for so long they have been completely cut off from one another. We can also assume that because…"

I phased out and stopped listening I was just trying to think everything through. It was confusing but it also all made sense. The rest of the lesson went quickly and it was really interesting and the entire class seemed genuinely excited to learn which was probably a first in the History of Magic classroom. The lesson only managed to bump History above Astronomy on his list of favorite classes for Scorpius and it even managed to lift Albus into an even chirpier mood this combined with the fact it had stopped raining made him fell that maybe Wednesday wouldn't be so bad.

After class I said goodbye to Tiffany and Holly who were going to the fourth floor for transfiguration and left with Albus and Scorpius to go down to the dungeons for Potions. We had just reached the ground floor when we passed the Slytherin's who were coming from Charms. I saw Belinda give me an evil look before sending a cutting hex at my bag. It split sending all my books everywhere they were two perfect Slytherins no one had seen Belinda cast the hex but they had seen my bag spill everywhere.

"Mills come on we'll be late!" Albus was rocking on his heels, Potions was his favorite class.

"Just go guys, I'll be there in a sec."

Albus didn't say a thing he just raced away quickly. Scorpius gave me an apologetic look but then followed after him. I repaired my bag and quickly tried to stuff my things back inside so that I could try and get to Potions on time. When I had my things together I ran two at a time down the steps to the dungeons. I turned a corner and suddenly found myself on the floor. Belinda and Adrianna seemed to have taken it upon themselves to make me late for Potions.

"What is your problem? I haven't done anything to you!"

Adrianna and Belinda didn't say anything they just looked at me like I was dirt under their shoes.

"You two are crazy!" I pulled my bag up over my shoulder and that's when I did it. I don't know why, maybe it was because of everything that Professor Ramsie had been talking about in History but I said it before I could think.

"Relinquo, Recesserimus, Maneant, Evanescere."

Adrianna and Belinda laughed at me and I instantly felt sick with embarrassment quickly I gathered my things to leave. Holding my breath I left without looking back. I was feeling so embarrassed why would it work for me? I knew I was a failure at Cackles magic, I was pathetic. I mumbled the four words under my breath again. They were meant to be a Cackles vanishing spell but obviously it hadn't worked.

* * *

The two of us watched that Hubble girl walk around the corner, she was such an idiot, even from here we could still hear her mumbling that nonsense under her breath.

"Come on Belinda let's go I don't think I could face another potion's lesson."

"I'm coming Adrianna but you know I actually like potions ahhh!…."

Suddenly the two of us were pulled backwards. Adrianna was screaming from the top of her lungs. We were pulled up the staircase, out of the dungeons and then thrown backwards onto the ground on the entrance hall.

"What the hell just happened! That Hubble girl had something to do with this I bet!" Adrianna was furious, she was yelling at me, down the stairs to the dungeons and was basically making a huge amount of noise.

"Adrianna just be quiet, please!" I begged her looking hesitantly around my shoulder to see if anyone had heard.

"Belinda you saw what just happened, look you have bruises on your arms from where whatever it was that pulled us up here."

"Will the two of you just be quiet please? You are disturbing the peace, now go on, you should be in class get going!"

"What? Who said that?" I spun around quickly and Adrianna was stunned into silence.

"It was me fools, never seen a talking portrait before? Go on scat! Promie why don't you escort them down to the dungeons before these two are any later for class? Professor Cresswell wouldn't like that."

We turned around to see an angry looking bald man yelling at us from his frame, shaking his fist too. Promie turned out to be one of the suits of armor who stood guarding him on either side of the portrait. 'Promie' saluted the man in the portrait and then marched towards us taking my sister and I by an arm each and leading us back down the stairs to the dungeons which we had just been somehow magically pulled up. He shoved us around a corner and then marched back up the stair case. Adrianna was unusually shocked into silence and together we managed to walk down another flight of stairs in shocked silence into the potions lab. I could barely muster a sentence together to apologise to Professor Cresswell, all I could think about was the fact that the portraits were suddenly moving again.

* * *

_**Authors Note: **__This is the longest chapter I have ever written but hopefully it will answer a lot of the questions raised in reviews which I am loving by way. The positive feedback and the constructive criticism have been a real help, so thank you to everyone who did I really appreciate it! I had a look back on the previous chapters and I can say that in the next little bit there will be a major overhaul. It is all going to be edited and improved. This chapter took much much longer because I was struggling to find a way to write things as I wanted them to happen and because I took much more time to edit and write slowly. Hopefully this is a better quality chapter that will earn me some more brilliant reviews!_

_And for people wondering I made Cackles Academy like a Primary School so Hogwarts is more like a Secondary College. Hopefully clears everything up. :D_


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